Red Sox Defeat Lowly Orioles

The best team by far in the 2018 Major League Baseball season has been the Boston Red Sox. Many people int he media thought the Red Sox would be a contender for a playoff spot. However, not even the most optimistic of Boston fans predicted that their team would run away with the American League East. That is exactly what has happened. The team has scored a massive amount of runs and pitched far better than expected. Now the team must have a better showing in the playoffs than they have had for the past two years. Boston beat Baltimore 4-1 to wrap up a sweep.

Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles are having a season in 2018 that is exactly the opposite of the Red Sox. They are 47 games under .500 and set the record for the earliest elimination for division title contention in Major League history. They were eliminated on August 10th. The rest of the season is going to be rough for Baltimore. They traded several of their best players including superstar Manny Machado before the July 31 trade deadline. They have very little talent. If is hard for them to compete with the other teams. They are currently on pace to lose far more than 100 games. They might lose more than any Baltimore team in history.

The Red Sox have been getting big contributions from their star players. Right fielder Mookie Betts has blossomed into one of the best players in baseball. He can hit for both power and average. JD Martinez has been a huge free agent acquisition. He has a chance to win the triple crown this year. It is interesting to note that Martinez was signed very late. Any team could have signed him if they wanted. He has been everything the Red Sox could have hoped for and so much more.

The playoffs will not start for six more weeks. However, the Red Sox know they are going to be in the playoffs. They can just focus on how they want to arrange their pitching rotation for their first playoff series. They have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs the past two seasons. It will be interesting to see if this Red Sox team will be able to do any better in the postseason. The key will be going into the playoffs healthy. They have not suffered any serious injuries to any of their key players so far this season.

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