Alex Cora managing a bullpen anytime the playoffs roll around

Most excited to see Casey Mize at Fenway tonight could be Wilyer Abreu, who was lighting him up last year in both games started by Mize.

A lot of pitching can be boiled down to simply K-BB%, and there isn't a clearer indicator of how badly the Red Sox need to acquire someone to slot in behind Crochet this offseason.

A scary, complete reversion from Bello

Astros are playing like they want to be put out of their misery

20 of Masataka Yoshida's last 33 batted balls have been hard hit, while he's 13 for 32 (.406) with 3 doubles, 1 home run, 0 strikeouts.

Everything always just feels better when Abreu is playing.

Garrett Whitlock had meltdown performances on April 30, May 4, 9, and 13. Since then, he has an MLB-best 26 shutdowns to 2 meltdowns ratio, an MLB-best 3.3 Win Probability Added, the second-best Runs Above Average, 0 home runs allowed, a 1.29 ERA, and a 1.83 FIP.

Team hitting performance with runners in scoring position this season.

This is my favorite Savant page. A 99th percentile defensive shortstop that is a 1st percentile hitter. Totals 0.6 bWAR 0.7 fWAR

Red Sox pitcher's worst pitch in September is by far their cutters, mostly from damage against Crochet and Bello, and the batted balls against them have been eerily similar.

Sox fighting and clawing for every run Red Sox quality of contact 7th — before all-star break 18th — after all-star break Red Sox barrel rate 5th — before all-star break 25th — after all-star break Red Sox isolated power 5th — before all-star break 23rd — after all-star break

It feels like 60% of the Red Sox issues are middle relief just not being able to function when they are handed favorable matchups on a platter to start their outings. Lowe is hitting .195/.229/.301 with 31% K% vs. left-handed pitching, and is 2-for-16 against hard LH fastballs.

Sox desperately need(ed) a RH bullpen arm, and Sandlin looked primed for that role. Except after he was switched to the bullpen in Worcester, he allowed runs in 10 of 14 relief appearances. Finished up the pen experiment today with totals of 18.2 IP, 31 H, 21 R, 12 BB, 17 K, 3 HR, 2 HBP

Yoshida in RF for the first time... maybe ever?

outfieldigami coming tonight.

Maybe the most unbelievable chart I've seen this year. Campbell's batted balls on pitches 90 mph or faster since he was moved to Worcester. 1° Launch angle 28% Hard Hit 2% Barrel

Carlos Narvaez is 2 for 27 over the last 11 days

Most of the time you see these plots and nothing jumps out, but finally getting a look at Perales' fastball gives a fuzzy feeling. Oh baby.

Multiple things are short-circuiting for Bello this month. In June-August he consistently threw 50% of his pitches in the strike zone, in September it's down to 44%. June-Aug: 19 K%, 6 BB%, 13 K-BB% September: 15 K%, 10 BB%, 5 K-BB% Also, his new cutter is imploding:

Designated hitter rankings since the All-Star break 25. Red Sox, .256/.311/.390, 91 wRC+

Teams that are ending the year riding a huge home run wave, and teams that are having to manufacture runs.

Chapman, Whitlock and Slaten have combined to allowed 3 of 34 inherited runners to score this year, 9%. All other Red Sox relievers have combined to allowed 64 of 168 inherited runners to score, 38%.

The Red Sox have a 12% chance at a home wild card playoff series, 70% chance at a road series, and 18% chance of missing the playoffs. Series likelihood 44% Yankees 15% Astros 11% Mariners 10% Tigers 1% Guardians 1% Blue Jays 18% elimination

Map of Connelly Early's 33 swing and misses through 2 starts is a beauty.

Every day now, there is a new article about someone being dumbfounded thinking Rafaela seemingly turning a corner, but has now crashed violently for 2 months. Chase Rate 43% before hot streak 41% during hot streak 41% after hot streak No corner is sustainably being turned until this changes.

The 10 worst hitters since the all-star break Rk wRC+ 136 72 Pete Crow-Armstrong 137 71 Chandler Simpson 138 69 Elly De La Cruz 139 67 Agustin Ramirez 140 66 Lawrence Butler 141 66 Jordan Walker 142 63 Kody Clemens 143 63 Tyler Freeman 144 60 JP Crawford 145 40 Ceddanne Rafaela

Early doesn't have Tolle's fastball - who does - but he has a better current array of secondary pitches that he can control and get whiffs with (31% whiff vs RHH on his CH, SL, CU). He's been working with 6 pitches. Holding velocity has been a question.

It was a better feeling knowing the Patriots were functionally inept rather than seeing them just be horrible.

Changeup tonight as his hard stuff was getting crushed

Not sure if this is a smart change or horrible omen from a team that historically downplays injuries and avoids MRIs only to have injuries take forever to get fixed.

Romy Gonzalez ranks 1st/280 in RBI Percentage in MLB. 156 runners have been on-base when he came to bat, 34 have been batted in, that 21.8% is the highest percentage in baseball.

MLB's best quality of contact since the All Star break 1 .606 Shohei Ohtani 2 .572 Kyle Schwarber 3 .550 Roman Anthony 4 .533 Nick Kurtz 5 .527 Dansby Swanson 6 .505 Julio Rodriguez 7 .503 Rafael Devers (min. 75 batted balls)

Since being moved to Triple-A, Campbell ranks 13th/167 in Poor contact and 143rd/167 in Barrel + Solid contact among AAA hitters. 96th/146 quality of contact in July 126th/146 quality of contact in August There should be a deep dive into what's going on.

Tolle's changeup has been in the zone 23% of the time in AAA+MLB. Lg avg for SP is 39%. Tolle will need it to combat stacked RH lineups. There are some v good SP that use their change near that zone%, but they keep them around edges w less waste. This next dev step will pay huge.

Derek Falvey and the Twins right now

Everyone is saying Lester, but the summer of the Buchholz hype machine was unmatched by any Red Sox pitching prospect since. I don't think Tolle was even close to it.

Watching in real time someone figure out how to use the six infinity stones in unison.

yes

The best rolling trends in baseball are Roman Anthony's launch angle and the average distance on his hard hit balls.