The Boston Red Sox defied the odds by making it to the American League Championship Series, and going up against their biggest rivals in the Wild Card Game before facing off against the AL East's top team in the divisional round certainly deserves some recognition.
MLB.com noticed the array of strong outings from this Red Sox team and included three players on its list of top postseason performers. The site's Will Leitch chose to recognize Kiké Hernández, Nathan Eovaldi and Rafael Devers.
Here's what he had to say about the trio:
On Hernández, who ranked No. 1:
"Hernández obviously has a long history in the postseason with the Dodgers, including two huge homers in the NLCS last year. (His next postseason game will be his 64th, which is more than, say, Buster Posey has played.) But he's never been better than he is right now. He hit .450 with two homers in the ALDS win over Tampa Bay, and you may have a vague memory of a particularly big at-bat that ended the series. He’s the Robert Horry of the 2021 postseason: Big Shot Kiké!"
On Eovaldi, who ranked No. 5:
"You would think it'd be impossible for Eovaldi to top his heroics of the 2018 World Series, but he's making a run at it so far. He has been nails in his two starts for the Red Sox, striking out 16 hitters in 10 1/3 innings, more strikeouts than anyone else in the playoffs to this point. With Chris Sale's struggles, Eovaldi appears to be the ace of Boston's staff right now. Against the Astros, he’ll need to remain at his best."
On Devers, who ranked No. 9:
"Devers hit two homers and had a .429 OBP against the Astros in the 2017 ALDS … as a 20-year-old. So it shouldn’t be surprising to see him launching the ball like he is now, with two homers thus far this October, including a pivotal three-run homer in the decisive Game 4 against the Rays. His career postseason line, in 20 games, is .308/.387/.538. That'll work."
The Red Sox will look to add more electric postseason performances to their resume when the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros begins Friday night.
