Houston Astros: Three reasons to root for the Red Sox against the Yankees
By T.A. Mock
Boston’s lineup is top heavy but not as deep as New York’s
The Boston Red Sox line up is obviously very talented so don’t get me wrong on that front. En route to winning a league-leading 108 games, the Red Sox scored 876 runs on 1,509 hits. Both were tops in the league.
I know what you’re thinking, how in the world can a lineup that led the league hits and runs be less intimidating than another offense?! Well, it’s actually fairly simple. Let me break it down for you first by examining the Yankees’ lineup.
The Yankees starting nine has been relatively the same for a while now, minus Brett Gardner and Aaron Hicks swapping in and out depending on the matchup. From the one-hole all the way to the nine-hole, this Yankees team has a bat that can change the game in an instant.
Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez all have ridiculous power. Didi Gregorius, Luke Voit, and Miguel Andujar are all also to be feared power-wise. Beyond them, it’s still scary with Andrew McCutchen, Gleyber Torres, and Gardner/Hicks. That’s a stout lineup top to bottom.
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The Red Sox, on the other hand, have an incredible 1-4 but their 5-9 isn’t as intimidating as the Yankees and is much more matchup dependent. To start things off in every game, the Houston Astros would see Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, JD Martinez, and Xander Bogaerts.
Betts and Martinez will both receive MVP votes, Benintendi had an incredible second full year and Bogaerts keeps adapting and changing his game to take it to the next level. These four also accounted for more than half of the RBIs on the team, more than half of the runs on the team, and nearly half of the hits. That’s four guys out of 15 (who had over 100+ plate appearances) who contributed half of the offense.
However, after them, their lineup turns into a hodge-podge, matchup dependent mix of players. Jackie Bradley Jr. will always be in the lineup because of his defense but first base, second base, third base, and catch could all change game to game and the bats they can put there aren’t always difference makers.
So, if it were completely up to me, I’d much rather the Houston Astros face the Red Sox lineup than the slugging Yankees lineup. Now on to the third, final, and most convincing point…