The team the Red Sox have to worry about the most in October, though, may be the same one that represented the AL in the Fall Classic last autumn.
The Red Sox possess the top offense in baseball and three ace-level pitchers, when healthy. They have the second-best record in the majors and are a favorite to reach the World Series.
That said, the Texas Rangers could pose a problem, as their 20-run eruption Monday attests.
While much is made of the Red Sox leading the way in batting average, runs scored, on-base percentage and all sorts of other offensive categories, the Rangers are No. 2 and closing. The Rangers actually have more home runs and are have just one fewer extra-base hit than the Red Sox' 357. Their 12-game win streak earlier this month was maligned for the competition — their victims during the streak were the immortal Orioles, hard-hitting A's, murderer's row Mariners and inconsistent Angels — but a dozen straight wins count the same in the standings no matter who they come against.
Then comes a night like Monday, when the Rangers' leadoff hitter, Ian Kinsler, raps four hits, including a double and a home run, and they score 20 runs despite leaving 28 men on base.
Twenty-eight left on base. Put in context, the Red Sox left 23 on base Monday night — in a game that went 14 innings against the last-place Royals.
The pitching staff is seen as the Rangers' weakness. It seems like pitching is always that team's weakness, doesn't it? Part of that has to do with Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, which blows away every other big league ballpark with an average of 2.79 homers hit per game.
C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis, Alexi Ogano and Matt Harrison aren't the Phillies' stable of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and soon-to-be-back Roy Oswalt, but Texas' pitching staff has a respectable 1.26 WHIP (same as the Sox) and doesn't walk many batters. During a six-game stretch during their win streak, the Rangers posted four shutouts.
As always, Boston fans are focusing their gaze on the Yankees, because the postseason always seems to go through the Bronx. But the Rangers are the defending AL champs, and they don't appear to be getting any worse.
