Boston Red Sox: ALDS sweep can serve as learning experience for young players
Several of the young stars for the Boston Red Sox struggled in the postseason, but they can learn from this and take it as a learning experience.
The Red Sox ‘young stars’ were very quiet this postseason despite having monstrous regular seasons.
Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, and Jackie Bradley Jr were ice cold in the Cleveland Indians sweep of the Red Sox, combining for just a .188 batting average this postseason (6-for-32) with zero runs batted in and twelve strikeouts.
Coming into the series, many people (including myself), believed the Red Sox offense would chase the Indians starters out after just a few innings. Facing Trevor Bauer (4.26 ERA) and Josh Tomlin (4.54 ERA) didnt seem like a tough task but the Red Sox offense made them look like Cy Young candidates.
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Betts, who some believe is the front-runner for the American League Most Valuable Player, looked uncomfortable at the plate for the first time all season and couldn’t seem to adjust to the Indians ways of attacking him.
Bradley looked like he was playing wiffle ball all series, striking out in seven of his first nine at-bats before registering his first hit in the ninth inning of Game Three.
Bogaerts, who had a pitiful second half hitting just .253 after finishing the first half at .329, was just 3-for-12 this series and could not adjust to the Indians ability to throw him wipe out sliders.
Dustin Pedroia, who started his postseason career in 2007 with a .154 average, spoke out saying ‘It’s a taste for them’, adding how players go from playing every day to having a few days off, giving pitchers more time to figure out a game plan for them. Something that young players need to get used to in the postseason.
David Ortiz, who is now gone, almost single handedly carried the Red Sox offense in 2004 and 2013. Without him here anymore, these three need to learn how to adapt to postseason baseball. Betts stated, “We’ll know what to expect and how to handle adversity and how to go about the games and whatnot. It’s going to definitely be a positive.”
Lets hope we see this trio dominate like we know they can in future postseasons.