Red Sox holding out for a postseason hero to lead them to World Series

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 30: Owner of the Boston Red Sox John Henry is presented with the trophy after the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 in Game Six of the 2013 World Series at Fenway Park on October 30, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 30: Owner of the Boston Red Sox John Henry is presented with the trophy after the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 in Game Six of the 2013 World Series at Fenway Park on October 30, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
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The Boston Red Sox need a postseason hero to carry them to championship glory. Who will it be? This is just a possible list of the favorites.

BOSTON, MA – JUNE 23: Former Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – JUNE 23: Former Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

Where have all the heroes gone?  The Boston Red Sox had a superhero for well over a decade, but David Ortiz is gone and not walking up to that bat rack anytime soon. The postseason needs a hero. Will we have a baseball version of Celtic Cedric Maxwell saying “Climb on my back, boys?” Now is the time for a hero to surface – to step up and be the proverbial man among boys, but it does not look good.

During the season this Red Sox team has been adrift in the hero department. Clearly, no one stands out with the possible exception of a left-handed hurler who could become a resounding flop or success in the postseason.

The beauty of the hero department is one is not necessarily of super star magnitude – a hero can often be the most common of players who suddenly gets blessed by the baseball gods and is forever enshrined into Red Sox history.  Just a simple steal by Dave Roberts attests to one being a hero for just one single memorable moment.

This is the 50th anniversary of the “Impossible Dream” 1967 Red Sox and the hero is Carl Yastrzemski, who became one on an almost daily basis and into the postseason. Will someone become Mike Lowell, Koji Uehara, or Josh Beckett? Then there is a magnitude of hero that even other heroes admire – Curt Schilling. Who stands the best chance of being a postseason hero?

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