For Arguments Sake: Deep team, but need a “perfect season” to achieve 100 wins
By: Andrew Otovic
The 2011 season certainly has the potential to be a very special season for the Red Sox and Red Sox Nation. For the first time since 2007, the Red Sox clearly have baseball’s best overall team and should make their third World Series appearance in eight seasons. That being said, the team will NOT become the first team since the 2009 New York Yankees to win 100 games in a single season. There have only been 92 such teams in the more than 110 years of baseball. The last time the Red Sox won 100 games was 1946. The most they have won in the last twenty years was 98 games, and that was in the World Championship year of 2004. On top of that, the Sox have most of their core players coming off injuries from 2010 where they missed significant time. Dirt dog Dustin Pedroia is coming off a broken foot, Jacoby Ellsbury is coming off of broken ribs, and newly acquired Adrian Gonzalez is coming off of shoulder surgery. True, all of those players will be back to complete form during the season and producing highly, but players tend to start slow and injuries tend to occur.
It is simply unreasonable to expect 100 wins with parity. That many wins require a perfect regular season, and those tend to be rare.
For Arguments Sake: 100 wins? Too easy, bro
By: Jon Mael
It is rare that I go into a season legitimately expecting a franchise to win the championship, but this season I fully anticipate the Red Sox will bring home the World Series title. The question is, can they clear the 100-win hurdle? I think they can. The Sox fell just 11 wins short last year with a depleted roster and a feeble bullpen. The Sox made some giant free agency moves to bolster the offense. The additions of perennial All-Stars Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez should stabilize the top of the lineup. A healthy Jacoby Ellsbury should give back the speed that the team sorely lacked last season. When you look at some of the teams that have won 100 games recently, such as the 2008 Angels or 2009 Yankees, you realize that the Sox are on the right track to hit the mark. Both of those teams were coming off huge free agency signings and coming off disappointing finishes the previous year. The Sox were a projected playoff team last year who put in a courageous effort despite all of their injuries; but the season still ended with no playoff birth, thus making 2010 a disappointment with the focus on improvement. Boston saw the same situation with the 2008 Celtics, who came off a dreadful season and decided to make trades for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. The Celtics ended up going 66-16 en route to winning a championship. The Sox are hopeful that adding Crawford and Gonzalez will provide the same success.
One hundred wins seams too reachable. One hundred ten wins should be the real goal this year.