In 1997, the Florida Marlins, then an unknown expansion team, won the World Series. The Cleveland Indians dismantled the New York Yankees, the reigning World Series champs, in first round of the playoffs while the Boston Red Sox found themselves crying to sleep for the 79th season in a row. It was a bizarre time for baseball. Even the baseballs themselves acted possessed as they were crushed off the bat of Mark McGwire (58 home runs) and flung off the fingers of Roger Clemens (21 wins).
Probably the strangest aspect of the 1997 season was that the Yankees were dethroned from the American League Eastern Division crown. For years, the Yankees perched upon their throne, strangling the hopes and dreams of those forsaken and cursed. Led by Cal Ripken, the Baltimore Orioles valiantly fought off the beast until they sat atop the division for the first time since 1983.
Flash forward to 2008 and one can see that a similar shift of power is unfolding atop the AL East. For the past 10 years, the Red Sox and Yankees have dominated the division. But now, the young and valiant Tampa Bay Rays are surprising baseball.
At the beginning of the season, a quick glance at the box score might have left some people wondering, How is a team that has never won more than 70 games in a season dominating baseball? But the Rays have thus far proven their resiliency and are destined to stay on top.
With the Yankees floundering in third, it is up to the second-place Red Sox to squelch Tampa's victorious flame. Just a year removed from their second World Series ring in four years, the Sox are vying for the Wild Card and also have the best chance to overcome the Rays' 3.5 game lead in the East.
With the final, and probably this season's most important series between the Red Sox and Yankees at Yankee Stadium underway, both teams are frantically mapping out their strategies to overcome the Rays and each other. The Red Sox have secured a six game lead on the Yankees, but come September, anything can happen. A three game loss to the Yankees this week could prove fatal for the hopes of a Red Sox repeat.
For the Red Sox, the key to this series and for the rest of the season is consistency. The pitchers need to pitch and the hitters need to hit. From Kevin Youkilis to Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Sox have some of the best players in baseball, and if they can keep every facet of their game strong and steady there is no doubt they will make the playoffs.
A component to the teams' consistency is health. All too often this season, when fans look down the Red Sox roster sheet, the big bold letters of DL - Disabled List - sear through the page and into their ever-frantic minds.
Names like Ortiz, Lowell, Schilling and Drew have all spent time or are on the disabled list at this moment. An injury to Youkilis or Papelbon or any of the other players for that matter could prove costly to a team already bumped and bruised from the long season.
If all else fails, maybe the new instant replay will give the Sox the extra edge they need to overcome the Yankees, Rays, and, come October, the National League.
