The magic number for the Boston Red Sox is down to five. That has them on the edge of making the playoffs in a season where Alex Cora was fired and they, at one point, looked like they were on pace for a historically bad season.
It ended up being on the back of their excellent pitching, both in the starting rotation and in the bullpen, that the Red Sox were able to get back in the playoff picture. That’s even while withstanding some pretty major injuries over the course of the season.
Now, the Red Sox are pretty firmly in the second Wild Card for the AL. Catching the New York Yankees for the top Wild Card spot isn’t impossible, of course, but improbable. Getting caught by the handful of teams battling for the third Wild Card spot is also unlikely. Among those teams is the Texas Rangers, who the Red Sox are about to start their next series against.
The Boston Red Sox Announced Starting Pitching Matchups for the Texas Rangers Series
The Boston Red Sox have announced their starting rotation for the series against the Texas Rangers. It opens with the back end of the rotation, with Patrick Sandoval and Jake Bennett getting starts. After that, Sonny Gray is looking to wrap things up in the third game.
As for the Rangers, Cody Bradford, Jacob deGrom, and Kumar Rocker are lined up to start. That means the Red Sox are going to avoid old friend Nathan Eovaldi.
Sandoval has been the fifth option in the rotation for the Red Sox. Really, with all the injuries, he’s been a much further option down the line than fifth, but for now, that’s the role he’s filling. In his last two starts, he’s given up 7 earned runs in 10 innings. He’s also had a walk issue, giving up 9 in his last three outings. He’ll face Bradford, who has a 4.72 ERA and a 1.573 WHIP this season. He’s given up 18 earned runs and has 17 strikeouts in 34.1 innings.
In the second game, the Red Sox turn to Bennett. A rookie, he’s pitched well overall, with a 3.69 ERA. However, he has given up 5 home runs in his last two games. He faces deGrom. Once an elite pitcher, deGrom is still excellent, if not his same formerly dominant self.
Wrapping up the series for the Red Sox is Gray. The veteran is, arguably, having the best individual season of his career. With 17 wins and a 2.76 ERA, he very well might be Boston’s top starter for a postseason series. He faces Rocker. A former first-round pick, he’s in his third MLB season but hasn’t lived up to the status of a first-round pick. He has a 4.54 ERA and a 1.428 WHIP this season.
The Red Sox Magic Number
When talking about clinching a spot in the postseason, a magic number is the total of wins by a team in the lead and losses by the team trailing them to mathematically clinch. In the Red Sox’s case, that number currently sits at five.
Each win in the Rangers series is going to represent a -1 to the magic number. So, if the Red Sox take care of business, they could be down to a magic number of two. The Toronto Blue Jays are the first team out of the playoffs. That means that for every Blue Jays loss, they can also make that number more manageable.
The Blue Jays are in a tight race for a playoff spot in their own right. The Cleveland Guardians hold the final spot. However, Toronto and the Rangers are both still within 1.5 games.
Red Sox Set Projected Starters for Key Rangers Series Ahead of Playoffs