Red Sox, Rays familiar foes
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After beating the Yankees 6-2 in Tuesday’s American League wildcard game at Fenway Park, the Red Sox earned a trip to face the defending AL champion Rays in the bestof-five AL Division Series that opens Thursday.
Lefty Eduardo Rodriguez is expected to start for the Red Sox in Game 1 against Rays lefty Shane McClanahan.
“We’ve just got to be ready to face a great baseteam,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Coming into the season, everybody talked about (the Rays) being the best team in the big leagues, and we have a huge challenge. But we’re ready for it.”
After taking Monday off, the Rays went through a Tuesday workout while awaiting an opponent.
The Rays won the season series 11-8, though only outscored the Red Sox 106-104. The Sox swept an April series in Boston and the opener of a June series in Florida, then the Rays took 11 of the last 15. That included a three-game July 30-Aug. 1 sweep— in which the Rays took over first place in the AL East from the Red Sox and never gave it back — and a spirited Sept. 6 comeback from a 7-1 deficit that led to an 11-10, 10-inning win the Rays considered their biggest of the season.
The Sox finished the season 92-70, eight games behind the 100-62 Rays.
The Rays and Red Sox have met twice before in the playoffs.
In 2008, the Rays completed their amazing and unexpected march to the World Series by beating the Red Sox in a dramatic seven-game AL
Championship Series.
In 2013, the Rays lost the ALDS 3-1 to the Red Sox.
Short-timer? Carlos Correa seems resigned to what now appears inevitable.
An Astro since he was 17, his time with the team is probably approaching its expiration date — likely to end when the club’s playoff run does.
“This is my home,” he said. “But it’s not up to me.”
Correa becomes a free agent after the season, and the Astros seem unwilling to pay him what another team surely will. The sides negotiated in the offseason to no avail, and the star shortstop cut off talks when the season began.
He certainly hasn’t looked preoccupied on the field this year, hitting a career-high 26 homers and leading all position players with a 7.2 overall WAR and 2.9 defensive WAR. But as the AL West champion Astros prepare to play the Central champion White Sox in their best-of-five division series beginning Thursday, the possibility that these are Correa’s final games with the team looms large.
“I’m just hoping that there’s a way that we can retain and sign Carlos, because he’s a big part of this team, not only on the field, but he’s one of the real leaders,” manager Dusty Baker said.
GM James Click deflected talk about Correa’s future Tuesday.
“Right now, we’re focused on the postseason,” he said.
The Astros don’t have a history of spending big on free agents. The most owner Jim Crane has ever paid a free agent was a four-year, $52 million deal with outfielder Josh Reddick in 2017.