What do the Boston Red Sox need to do in order to beat the Cleveland Indians? Here are five keys to winning the American League Division Series.
Playoff baseball is back! After a pair of dismal last place finishes left them on the outside looking in on the postseason, the Boston Red Sox have returned to the October stage.
This city has never been content with merely being invited to the party, so this is only the first step toward the ultimate goal of winning a championship. Before they can continue to the next phase of this quest, they first must get past the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS.
Boston stumbled in the final week of the regular season, dropping five of their last six games to surrender home-field advantage in the opening round. This is a significant setback given how well Cleveland plays at home, where they tied for the league-lead with 53 home wins.
While they would have preferred not to have given Cleveland an edge, the Red Sox won’t be phased by starting on the road. Boston owned a league best 46-35 road record and have already proven that they can win at Progressive Field. The Red Sox went 4-2 against the Indians this season, including taking two out of three in Cleveland.
Their success this season against the Tribe gives them confidence entering this series, but they’ll need more than that in order to advance. Let’s take a look at the keys to the Red Sox advancing to the next round of the playoffs.