The Red Sox and Yankees will meet for the final time at Fenway Park this week, and whereas the Sox are effectively out of playoff rivalry, the collection stays ripe with storylines.
The largest is definitely Aaron Judge’s chase for Roger Maris’ American League house run report of 61 set in 1961, a report that continues to be necessary to a big side of baseball followers who low cost the one three gamers to ever go that mark: Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire.
Those three performed within the steroid period and have been closely tied to performance-enhancing medication, with McGwire admitting to heavy use through the season by which he set the report with 70 homers in 1998, although Bonds later broke that report with 73 in 2001.
Judge will enter Fenway Park on Tuesday with 55 homers, six shy of Maris’ A.L. report that some nonetheless contemplate to be the gold normal in baseball historical past.
Former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent, who held the submit from 1989 till 1992, instructed USA Today that if Judge breaks Maris’ report, he’ll contemplate it the all-time mark.
“Personally, I think that those records (set by Bonds, McGwire and Sosa) are tainted, and therefore I’m rooting very much for Judge,” Vincent stated. “I think he’s absolutely clean. I don’t think there’s any performance-enhancing drug involvement or taint with Judge. And so I think one of the reasons his performance is so illuminating and so compelling is that it’s totally clean.”
Drug testing in baseball didn’t start till 2004. Since then, Judge’s teammate, Giancarlo Stanton, has essentially the most homers in a single season with 59.
What Judge is doing this yr is especially spectacular provided that house runs are down throughout baseball and his 55 tower over the next-closest competitor, Kyle Schwarber, who has hit 37 with the Phillies. Schwarber can be hitting simply .215 whereas Judge is hitting .307.
It’s trying like top-of-the-line seasons in baseball historical past and comes at a time when Judge is about to hit free company and will rating one of many largest contracts in baseball historical past.
There’s been hypothesis that the Red Sox ought to pursue Judge, one, as a result of they’ve a ton of cash coming off the books and are determined for a middle-of-the-order bat to assist Rafael Devers, and two, as a result of stealing Judge from the Yankees could be an earth-shattering transfer within the baseball world.
Of course, Judge has sometimes been a horrible hitter at Fenway Park.
He enters this collection with a lifetime .178 common, .628 OPS and simply six house runs in 36 video games on the ballpark that opened in 1912.
He’ll face Red Sox starters Nick Pivetta and Brayan Bello in these two video games. He has one house run in 12 at-bats towards Pivetta and has by no means confronted Bello, the rookie righthander who might be making his first profession begin towards the Yankees.
According to Bovada, Judge is a heavy favourite to hit seven extra house runs this yr and go Maris’ mark of 61. It’ll take $100 to win $180 on that wager, and a $100 wager towards Judge can pay $140.
This is the second-to-last collection between the Sox and Yankees this yr. They’ll additionally play in New York Sept. 22 by Sept. 25, with their ultimate recreation to be broadcast on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.
Bogaerts ‘might get’ emotional
Judge isn’t the one pending free agent on this collection, as Xander Bogaerts nears what might be the top of his expertise within the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.
Bogaerts enters the collection red-hot and main the league with a .319 common.
“I can’t lie. Right now I’m extremely focused,” stated Bogaerts instructed WEEI’s radio broadcast after the Sox’ 1-0 win over Baltimore on Sunday. “Right now we have 21 games left, or whatever the calendar says. I’m just being extremely focused, one pitch at a time, trying to swing at strikes. I know it’s coming down to the finish line and obviously, stuff might get a little emotional. I’m just trying to enjoy the moment. Like I said, I feel like I really need to be locked in, really need to be focused. I’m not saying just to get hits, but to focus. I have to be on point I feel if I want to perform good with everything going on.”
Asked if he hopes to be in Boston subsequent yr, he stated, “Yeah. I do. We’ll see what happens… I just want to enjoy these 20 games as much as possible. As I said, I just need to be extra focused and hopefully, I’m here for a long, long time. But I guess that’s not in my control.”
Odds and ends
The Red Sox made a swap on the again finish of their 40-man roster on Monday, once they claimed infielder Yu Chang off waivers from the Rays and designated outfielder Jaylin Davis for project. Chang, 27, has hit .216 with 4 homers in 58 huge leagues video games for 3 groups this yr…
Former Red Sox pitcher Anthony Varvaro was tragically killed in an car accident whereas driving to a Sept. 11 ceremony on Sunday. Varvaro had a pair of spectacular seasons as a reliever for the Braves in 2013 and ’14, however struggled in a short stint with the Sox in 2015 earlier than retiring to grow to be a Port Authority police officer. He was 37 years previous…
Christian Vazquez has been off the Red Sox for greater than a month and but remains to be their seventh-most beneficial participant this yr, value two WAR, in line with Baseball-Reference…
In his first seven video games with the Sox, the 22-year-old Triston Casas is 2-for-21 (.095) with one house run, three walks and eight strikeouts.
Source: www.bostonherald.com