I envy you. I am currently writing this article on Oct. 21 and I am stressed out wondering if the Red Sox are going to beat the Astros. However, by the time you are reading this, you already know the answer. What I can do, however, is tell you about the games I do know about. Currently, the Astros are up 3–2, so unless I can find a way to see the future, I won’t be able to comment on game seven.
Before I start with game one, I wanted to say that if the Red Sox win the World Series, Kike Hernandez has to win the MVP. This man has been on fire this playoff run. He has hit nine for 22, three of those being home runs in the ALCS alone. His slugging percentage—a stat similar to batting average but values doubles, triples and home runs more than singles—is a whopping .860. What makes it more impressive is that they have been timely hits. He is a big reason they beat the Tampa Bay Rays, because whenever the Red Sox desperately needed a run, Hernandez was there to deliver.
Let’s start with game one. Astros started the game fast with an early run brought in with a sacrifice fly by Yordan Alvarez that brought Altuve in to score. The Red Sox didn’t respond to that until the third inning with a solo HR by Kike Hernandez. Devers and Bogaerts also scored that inning giving the Red Sox the two-run lead. The game remained a two-run contest until the sixth inning in which the Red Sox pitching collapsed leading to an Astros 5–4 victory.
Games two and three were dominated by the Red Sox. Game two ended 9–5 and game three ended 12–3. Let me repeat myself: 12–3! If I were to summarize these two games in two words, those words would be: home runs. It really looked like a home run derby for two games. Kike Hernandez, Christian Arroyo, JD Martinez, Rafael Devers and Kyle Schwarber all hit home runs. Game two was especially wild because of the two Grand Slams in the first two innings by Martinez and Devers.
Games four and five were almost opposite of the last two games. Boston went from easily scoring eight or more runs while holding the Astros to less than five, to struggling to score even three runs while giving up nine. The final score of game four was 9–2 and the final score of game five was 9–1. If I were to attribute these losses to one thing, other than the fact that they forgot how to score for two games, it would be the Red Sox closing pitchers. In the three games they lost, 10 of the total 23 runs scored were in the last inning. Whether it is Hirokazu Sawamura closing or Martin Perez closing, they haven’t been able to stop the bleeding. Boston’s closing pitchers need to be better because if they are giving up too many runs at the end of the game, the offense is not going to have enough time to react.
Game six will be on Friday and the Red Sox need to win to force game seven. Game seven would ultimately take place on Saturday if necessary.
*Update as of Oct. 22 2021*
The Red Sox were eliminated by the Astros in game six of the ALCS by a score of 5–0. This ends what would have been a historic playoff run by the Red Sox. Ultimately, what seemed like a juggernaut of an offense was silenced by the Astros pitching staff, which led to their elimination.