Rafael Devers Took Matters Into His Own Hands And Made Sure There Would Be At Least One More Game At Fenway Park This Year
After going 1-2 against the Baltimore Orioles it was paramount for the Red Sox to get on the bus, drive a mile down the road, and sweep the fuck out of the Washington Nationals. There would be no DH, the already porous defense would be even weaker, and a drop of a single game could have been catastrophic. They answered the bell, all three games someone stepped up. Hunter Renfroe game one, Kiké Hernandez game two, and Rafael "Blank Check" Devers with two bombs on Sunday afternoon to make sure there would be no Game 163 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Which, it's kind of funny how we're talking about the Red Sox hosting the Wild Card game. That really shouldn't be the case if you rewind literally three days ago when New York held a TWO GAME lead over Boston. All the Yankees had to do is win two against a team that was literally already locked into the top overall seed in the American League and they failed to hold serve. Losing the final series of the season heading into a Wild Card game on the road when they were the odds on favorite to walk to the World Series by every prognosticator on the planet is a tough scene. Yet still you have the 27 Rings crew dancing in the streets and abusing helpless animals like they just won their 40th consecutive pennant. Which is it? Are banners the only thing that matters or is barely holding on to a Wild Card appearance the new norm?
Hopefully PETA steps in and makes an example of them, but that's really none of my business. My business is Rafael Devers stepping up and planting his flag as the most important player on this team in the biggest moment of the season. It's been that way all year long and when their backs were against the wall, he delivered a goddamn moonball to get Fenway Park AT LEAST one more game. I don't care what his asking price is for an extension, you pay it. He wont be your third baseman forever, but his bat has a decade of prime juice left in the tank. You keep him in the middle of the lineup for the rest of time as far as I'm concerned.
92 wins. What kind of a super genius saw that coming back in February? Only the largest, most wrinkle-brained among us could have predicted such. But that's all in the past. Go bash their turtle-abusing heads in on Tuesday.