Playoff Update Season 2
Red Sox Overwhelm Athletics
Betts And Shaw Lead Boston Rush In 6
After a hard fought opening four games of the series including losing the first two; the 2015 Red Sox woke up in a big way and won the AL pennant disposing of Connie Mack and the 1925 Athletics in six games.
Surprise arm Wade Miley pitched well in both his starts but saved the best for game six where he shut out the A's 2-0 and avoided the tension of a game seven. Boston scored 14 runs in the two opening games with Xander Bogaerts serving up a walk off hit in extras of game one. Boston scored 4 runs late on the A's pen in innings 8 and 9 of game two to take command.
Philadelphia responded well for games 3 and 4 as the Sox helped them with four costly errors in game three. Game four saw Rube Walberg in complete control cruising to a series tying win. However Rick Porcello turned the favor with an excellent outing in game five and Miley then slammed the door in game seven.
Mookie Betts gets the MVP of the series hitting .444 with 5 RBI and six runs. Travis Shaw drove in 8 runs with a 130 OPS+ in the series. Boston did without David Ortiz who only had two at bats. The win now has the Red Sox on the biggest stage, awaiting a battle against a surging Phillies team.
Barely Breaking A Sweat
1983 Phillies Continue Dominance With Win
The 1983 Phillies shocked everyone by losing game one to the 2002 Dodgers fairly handily as many thought an upset could be in the cards. Not even close as Philadelphia won the next four games to stamp their ticket to the season 2 World Series.
Kevin Brown struck out 11 in the opener beating Steve Carlton and giving the Phillies a much needed wakeup call. Mike Schmidt hit a big home run in a tight game two and in game three again Philadelphia used the long ball homering three times in a 4-2 win behind Marty Bystrom. The last two games were dominant as the Phils outscored LA 16-3 as Carlton got his revenge and John Denny ended the series with a quality effort.
Juan Samuel wins the MVP of the series hitting .368 with a .684 SLG and some very good defense at second. Schmidt hit .333 while Phillies pitching was excellent taking away a poor game one. The script is going as planned for this team as they prepare for the World Series, against a 97 win Red Sox team.