If the Brewers reach the World Series, they'll be facing the Boston Red Sox; get to know the American League champion
The Brewers have to win back-to-back games this weekend to reach the World Series, and that's a tall order. But if they do, they know that the Boston Red Sox will be waiting for them.
The Red Sox finished off a five-game triumph in the American League Championship Series on Thursday, sweeping three games in Houston to send the defending-champion Astros home.
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Boston will host the first two games of the 2018 World Series on Oct. 23 and 24, and the Brewers hope to be the ones paying Fenway Park a visit.
The Red Sox were the best team in baseball this season, going a staggering 108-54, and they have not lost a road game in the playoffs thus far (5-0).
Here's a look at the Sox:
How they fared head-to-head
The Brewers and Red Sox didn't meet this year, but the Brewers did win 2 of 3 last year when the Red Sox visited Miller Park in May. There isn't much to glean from that series, with both teams obviously very different 17 months later. The pitchers of record for the Brewers in that series were Carlos Torres, Rob Scahill and Neftali Feliz.
The biggest bats
There are so many to choose from.
Mookie Betts. The odds-on favorite to win the American League MVP delivered a huge 1.078 OPS this year, with a .346 average and .438 on-base percentage. He hit 32 home runs, second on the team in that department. He only stands 5-9 and 180 pounds, but he is imposing. He's the first batting champion to also produce a 30-30 season (he stole 30 bases even).
JD Martinez. If Betts doesn't win the AL MVP, it might be because of his teammate. The 30-year-old slugger belted 43 home runs and drove in 130 runs, all while batting .330 with a 1.031 OPS. With .640, Mookie Betts is your AL leader in slugging percentage, and Martinez is second at .629. Mike Trout is third at .628. By comparison, Christian Yelich -- who had a borderline historic second half in slugging percentage and is himself an odds-on MVP favorite, finished next in the majors overall with a .598 slugging percentage.
Xander Bogaerts. The shortstop can also hold his own with the bat, driving in 103 runs and delivering an .883 OPS. He hit 23 home runs and reached base at a quality .360 clip.
Andrew Benintendi. The outfielder who made the diving catch to seal Game 4 of the ALCS in dramatic fashion also hits the ball well, batting .290 with a .366 on-base percentage and an .830 OPS.
The best arms
Chris Sale. The perennial Cy Young candidate (who has somehow never won one) had a shoulder injury that might keep him from the award this year, but he's 12-4 with a 2.11 ERA and has 237 strikeouts in just 158 innings of work. He did struggle in the ALCS and couldn't make another start after coming down with illness, so his availability will surely be a World Series storyline.
David Price. The 2012 Cy Young winner has a 3.58 ERA and 16-7 record in 30 starts, and he strikes out one batter per inning with a 1.142 WHIP. He's quietly continued to be an excellent pitcher, even if the left-hander shares Clayton Kershaw's fate as a pitcher with a stigma that struggles in the postseason.
Rick Porcello. The 2016 Cy Young winner is more of a workhorse for the team, with 191 innings and a 4.28 ERA. He owns a 17-7 record.
Craig Kimbrel. The closer has a WHIP below 1.00 and strikes out 13.9 batters per 9 innings, with a 2.74 ERA. He's had some playoff struggles, however.
The things you need to know
- Brewers mainstay Travis Shaw was acquired from the Red Sox prior to the 2017 season in an act of highway robbery. Milwaukee received Shaw, minor leaguers Josh Pennington (since retired) and Mauricio Dubon (a top prospect who tore his ACL this year but still figures into the plan) for Tyler Thornburg, an injury-plagued reliever who threw 24 rough innings in 2018 after missing all of 2017 with an injury. In that timeframe, Shaw has hit 63 home runs in his two seasons with the Crew, driving in 187 runs.
- Look, this isn't a secret. This is arguably the best team in baseball (and certainly is the best by record alone) and will be miles better than anything the National League has to offer.
- The win total of 108 in the regular season is gaudy, but also slightly misleading thanks to the presence of the historically bad Baltimore Orioles (47-115) in the AL East. Boston feasted on the O's, going 16-3. Boston also went 15-4 against the Toronto Blue Jays (73-89) and 16-4 in interleague games against the Braves, Mets, Marlins, Phillies and Nationals. Against the four other AL playoff qualifiers, Boston finished 18-21 (although the Sox also went 5-1 against NL playoff qualifying Atlanta). We're really splitting hairs here to try and make the Sox sound vulnerable. They're not.
- In the final week of the season, most recently on Sept. 26, Boston was 56 games over .500. Fifty-six. They actually lost three of their last four games this season, including a hilarious 19-3 setback at the hands of Baltimore. Hilarious because you simply cannot predict baseball.
- Which is to say, anything is possible in this series. It doesn't matter which team is better. It matters which team wins four games. At least the Brewers have recent experience dealing with elite left-handed starting pitching (like Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu.