Hot Take Thursday (7/31/2020)

Will normally run on Thursdays. Expect a bold prediction every week.

Baseball is back and fans are loving it. Fans are loving it from home and baseball is back for now that is. I have a feeling that baseball is not going to last long. That's not the take but I do see a lot of problems with the MLB season. But most fans do really enjoy it and have missed it. This week I will be making a bold prediction to start the weekly post. Now I know this take I am making is a very hot take to make this early in the season, that's why I said it. If I'm not making bold predictions every week then I can't call it Hot Take Thursday (or in this case Hot Take Friday) and certainly won't be able to gain or risk a reputation.

Hot Take: The Red Sox need to win this series against the Yankees to stay in the playoff race.

If you are a Boston Red Sox fan please understand that your team's playoff hopes are virtually in jeopardy. The team is currently 2-4 with both wins against the New York Mets in Boston. Both of those games were close after getting blown out by the Baltimore Orioles and Mets in four straight games. Those are definitely not good signs. Starting Today, they play the New York Yankees in a three game series that they need to win.

The team is struggling in a division that is a very tough division to win and play a tougher schedule than other Wild Card contenders in the American League, considering they are on the East Coast. What that means is they are going to wind up playing six out of the ten teams that are real contenders for the playoffs. A very tough schedule to say the least and they've already been swept by a team that I wouldn't even consider a contender. They are a very unstable and very unpredictable.

The Yankees are a team that yes has had a little bit of trouble but definitely not a team that looks like their playoff hopes are in jeopardy. Their lineup is stacked enough so that way they can bounce back from any game at any time. They are the hardest team to beat in the league other than the Dodgers.

The Red Sox need to get back to .500 asap because four out of their next five opponents have teams with better players, better records, a better team, or they're a team the Red Sox have already been swept by. These teams are: (in no particular order), the Yankees, the Philadelpheia Phillies, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles, who may very well surprise us all this season.

Even if the Red Sox win one game this weekend, they are in trouble because then they're three games below .500, which is not a good place to be with their upcoming schedule and specifically them traveling to Tampa Bay to play the Rays for a four game home and home series. On top of all that, the Blue Jays may very well surprise them like the Orioles did last week.

I understand it is very early, but with a sixty game schedule it is very hard to get back on track when you are in this big of a hole. Especially with nine games of the short season already under raps while having to play a very heavy load on the schedule. It is very likely that the Red Sox lose this series and do the same thing against the Rays.

Red Sox fans, my message to you is simple, you guys are not out of it yet, but you're skating on thin ice. The Rays play the Orioles this weekend and that is not a hard team to beat compared to the rest of the schedule. If the Rays and/or the Yankees get to five games ahead of you guys, you all will be chasing a Wild Card that is a lot easier for a team like the Chicago White Sox or the Los Angeles Angels to take with every team in your division fighting for your spot because they view you as weak. It does not get any easier from here on out, but it could easily go from bad to worse in a span of two games.

In conclusion, make sure you watch the Red Sox's games against the Yankees and understand that one mistake in these games could prove very costly down the road.