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Just going by the 8 remaining DS teams. Other than NYY, the best pitching staffs all remain. Can't be all that shocking. Cubs/Sox both more powered by offense that can suddenly shut down in the postseason. Same with Boston forgetting how to manufacture runs, too. Or SD slumping on offense just when their bullpen being overtaxed finally caught up with them, too. You now have arguably the four best organizations overall remaining. Some might argue the Braves, but all four teams are there for reasons that shouldn't be all that mysterious to the 26 other organizations.

As they should be. I agree and I hope that's the case

If you would have told me that our pitching would hold Cleveland to two runs, I would feel good about the Sox chance of winning. I’m shocked that Sox hitters had so much trouble making any contact.

But did he wear black?

Staff include bullpen. Ours is better then Houston. Probably better then the Cubs as well.

he's my trap queen

Noah Schultz threw 121, Taylor threw 90 and Hagen threw 93. All are career highs.

dude you thought they were going to lose 100 games. this season was a massive turnaround that very few people anticipated happening. so what if the AL is bad this year, they still outplayed 80% of the league. that being said, this year is pretty much what I expected would happen. I thought they'd play about .500 ball and they did. I'm not shocked they lost in the postseason. I'm annoyed they felt compelled to buy at the deadline and I'm annoyed that the 'young pitching' didn't work out like I thought it would. of course, I don't think Vargas would become the best third baseman in the league, Chase a top 2B, that a DFA'd Savannah Banana would be an all-star, that Mune-sama would even be on the team; pretty much anything we got out of this offense was shocking and entertained me for months. Past 5 years or so, I watched a ton of minor league Sox ball but hardly any this year. the MLB team was a watchable product all season for the first time since basically covid. I dunno man, this was a pretty wonderful year of baseball even if the team nosedived the second half. There's a clear path to contending for a World Series for many years to come, but a team full of rookies couldn't get it done this year against a perennial veteran playoff team. It sucks and I wish we won last night, but if this team was a disappointment, then so is the entire league outside of 4 teams.

Ok here’s what I’m very grateful for. A bunch of “we’ll see” guys that cemented themselves as long term starters. Star- Vargas. No doubt captain of the team, ice cold and calm at the plate all series. Starters: Sean Burke - absolutely filthy in playoffs. Nobody would have put their chips on him as our top guy in April Tristan Peter’s - incredible August we thought midnight struck. His at bats are always pitch perfect. Fantastic defense. An absolutely incredible find. Antonnacci - in March many of us liked him but we also liked brooks Baldwin and Ramos and others who had high production compared to pedigree. Hes for real. We’ll always have to work a bit around his defense. Meidroth - absolute starter long term, again, entering into season many thought he’d be a transition guy. He’s a great bat, big time gamer Teel - whatever his offense struggled this year. My god is he a better catcher than what we threw out, and put many good at bats in the playoffs. Hagen Smith - while we will still have to be wait and see if he’s a starter, which is painful, he is still a huge weapon. I wasn’t sure he’d be valuable in majors in June. Taylor - obviously, just wish he’d have been developed differently. Wait and sees - Colson - I still think an offseason can help smooth out enough rough edges. Would be happy if he turned into a corner outfielder with power. Mune - love him, no rush to sign him. When he walks it’s all fine, but he gave up all plate discipline in playoffs, makes it rough. Braden - has to show he can be tougher right handed and start pulling the ball. Tremendous defensively tho and I think he is on team a long time. Pitching staff - sure wish Shane smith didn’t shrivel up. Davis Martin has a spot but it’s iffy. There is a lot of work to do here, and with the exception of a guy I don’t believe in (drew thorpe) there isn’t a lot coming. Thats an incredible year for the trajectory of the team. And Bonemer is on the way.

I’ll just take satisfaction that Jose Ramirez will never win anything and cost himself a boatload of money to do it.

Bears are wearing a 89 sticker for Ditka

Hurts just doesn’t look right anymore. Any sense of pressure and he just panics and throws it away or makes questionable throws. He clearly doesn’t have his beast line in front of him anymore but he looks rattled every time I watch their games

I did notice how much less fun the team seemed to be have as the series went on.

Yeah they also get extra picks every year. Sox get an extra pick once and we saw how much flexibility it adds.

2027 rotation: Burke 2nd/3rd year player on an innings limit 2nd/3rd year player on an innings limit failed trade acquisition FA that nobody else wanted

Nobody's really saying any different, are they? I think a rookie team got overwhelmed in the clinch games of the 2nd round and abandoned a pretty successful approach from games 1 and 2. Perhaps Cleveland adjusted, and these guys just couldn't readjust that fast, and panicked. I mean, one of the team-leading veterans was Miguel Vargas with parts of 3 seasons under his belt.

I think so too, but combined with some filthy pitching from Cleveland.

You forgot the part where we all die, then the Sun blows up and swallows its first 4 planets. I mean, if you're going to mope like a child, don't be a p**** about it.

I know we're supposed to kumbaya this s%*#, but this fucking sucks and I'm not interested.

I believe they actually converted opportunities in this last series at a moderate clip. Bases loaded with one out would result in a run, when they couldn't do that earlier in the year. They just pressed and choked in an elimination game. But again, talking about whether 2039 SoxTalk will still be ruminating over 21 strikeouts, or a fun team, I couldn't tell you what the shortcomings of the '77 team were without looking it up. But I can tell you about Zisk, Gamble, and Eric Soderholm.

The '77 South Side Hit Men was such a crazy great summer. I was 13, and it was the first time in my Sox-rooting life (2nd, really after 1972) that it felt like I was watching a real baseball team. I'm surprised every time I look it up to find they finished in 3rd place, 12 games out. The electricity of that summer always feels like they finished closer to the top, in retrospect. The final 3 games will be a blip. Hopefully, drowned out by greater successes.

And as an increasingly one dimensional offense that wasn't good at advancing runners, driving in runners from third with less than two outs...situational hitting, changing one's approach to manufacture individual runs, etc. The Guardians Rays Brewers all have better leveraging of their overall team speed, defense, base running and fundamentals. This traditionally is much cheaper to buy in FA than power numbers. Most importantly, look at the draft day origins for those pitching staffs. Mostly home grown and cheaper/inexpensive. Or the Guardians stealing Cade Smith from MN, just as the Guards lost Caminero to TB because they already had Jose Ramirez. (yes WEddy, the Sox stole Tristan Peters from TB too) To summarize: Best scouting. Similar aggresive contact oriented styles of play minus young stars in Caminero/Chourio. Similar offensive approaches...Guards Ball/Small Ball/Piranhas 2014/15 Royals, call it whatever the hell you want. It should also be noted how good that Guards' pen would be now with E.Clase today.

Yeah, when the dust settles I agree. The choke is just too fresh at the moment

I think that after crawling from the wreckage of the 2024 season, it's pretty amazing to consider that two years later, we're looking at a young core with playoff experience that is only going to improve. I believe there's 5 solid positional starters (Teel, Meidroth, Vargas, Ant-man, Peters), and 3 guys who need anywhere from tinkering to an overhaul of their approach (Monty, Braden, Mune). We have a bevy of #4-5 starters. Maybe they trade from Monty, Braden, Quero to get someone who can throw 5 innings in a playoff game. Tremendously fun season, and the front office gives me confidence they'll address the shortcomings that were exposed in the last 3 games.

I wish people would stop considering Shane Smith as an option. He was a flash in the pan for one season and I dont see him coming close to that again. I wouldnt be opposed to them resigning Newcomb as a starter. But yes they need to load up with sp options one way or another and learn from their opener/overuse mess. Im not sure they will.