Red Sox will have to turn to Nathan Eovaldi as ace in ALCS

The Boston Red Sox season may rest on Nathan Eovaldi and not the expected aces Chris Sale and David Price.  The high profiled have failed to deliver – maybe Eovaldi will?

You are playing a game of high stakes poker and it is now whittled down to two. You have three kings and are in a comfort zone anticipating a nice pot of cash, but three aces flop down and your dreams are ashes. Aces have a way of doing that in poker and baseball. The Boston Red Sox have aces, but they seem to turn into dueces in the playoffs.

In 2004, it was Curt Schilling and the whole “Bloody Sock” that became a catalyst for the Red Sox to dispense of the New York Yankees and later the same with the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2007, Josh Beckett went 4-0 as the Red Sox captured another title. Jon Lester‘s turn was 2013 with four wins in the postseason and two against the Cardinals in the World Series. True aces when the money was on the line.

David Price was handed an enormous contract and the expectations were clear – Price was to be the ace of the staff, but his postseason record is one of failure. The Red Sox emptied out the prospect closet for Chris Sale, but again, the postseason has not been kind to the lefty.

“Get on my back, boys, because I’m gonna carry you.”  Celtics Cedric Maxwell before game seven of 1984 finals against Lakers.

The 2016 and 2017 Red Sox disappeared in the first round losing to Cleveland 3-0 and then to the eventual champion Astros 3-1.  Sale took two losses against Houston last year and Price did manage a minor redemption working out of the bullpen.

This season, Sale has had mixed results and as for Price a lot less.  Maybe with Sale in his last game, it was a stomach issue – maybe not. There is then Nathan Eovaldi, who pitched seven strong innings against the Yankees allowing just one run. Eovaldi’s performance was pure postseason ace material that was needed at a most crucial time with the Red Sox in New York and tied 1-1.  This is what was expected of Price and Sale.

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Eovaldi will again take the mound and again it will be on the road only this time in Houston and a win will be needed. That is what a postseason ace does.  If Eovaldi can answer the challenge a potential postseason ace in the making could be developed – someone who could carry the team on their back.

The immediate Red Sox future will rest on Eovaldi, a mid-season pickup from Tampa Bay, to stave off Houston’s top of the line offense. For a pending free agent, Eovaldi’s postseason success will certainly be advantageous in his next contract. Eovaldi will be 29-years-old at the beginning of the 2019 season and appears recovered from Tommy John Surgery after tossing 111 innings between Boston and Tampa.

The future is not the issue as the present is the issue.  The burden for continuing 2018 Red Sox success does not rest on the expected, but the unexpected. A pitcher who was considered a possibility for the bullpen in the playoffs and not the rotation.  Eovaldi has an opportunity with another New York like performance to start to be mentioned as a possible Schilling, Beckett, and Lester.