Anyway, as I say, I'll be doing a wrap-up over the course of the next week.
But a couple of quick thoughts:
- The season goes into the books as a disappointment. The fact that the Red Sox can legitimately be disappointed with an 86 win season following 3 consecutive play-off appearances speaks volumes to how spoiled Boston fans are. It's important not to get too caught up in the "hey, look at those guys down the road - woe is us!" mentality, because Boston's had it better over the past 5 years than anyone else in MLB. Other than the guys down the road. And the Red Sox have won a World Series in that span, unlike the guys down the road (though they might do it this year.)
- 2002-2006 - There are 3 teams with more wins over that stretch than Boston - NYY, St. Louis, and Oakland. The Braves are tied. Boston has won a World Series. 3 of the other 4 have a chance this year, but none has won one. This has been a golden age of Boston baseball, and that fact should not be obscured by a disappointing finish to 2006.
- That disappointing Red Sox team finished ahead of St. Louis, who made the play-offs, and Philadelphia, who were eliminated the day before the season ended. They ended up two games worse than San Diego and LA who both made the play-offs, and were ahead of both when September started. Perspective remains important. Yes, from the Red Sox fan perspective, with the lead through late-July and the cratering of August, the season was a disaster. It's important to realize that "disaster" is a very relative term...
| R/G | (rank) | RA/G | (rank) | Pythagorean | (rank) | W | L | W | L | Luck | Detroit | 5.07 | (5) | 4.17 | (1) | 0.589 | (1) | 95 | 67 | 95 | 67 | 0 | New York | 5.74 | (1) | 4.73 | (6) | 0.587 | (2) | 95 | 67 | 97 | 65 | 2 | Minnesota | 4.94 | (8) | 4.22 | (2) | 0.572 | (3) | 93 | 69 | 96 | 66 | 3 | Cleveland | 5.37 | (2) | 4.83 | (7) | 0.549 | (4) | 89 | 73 | 78 | 84 | -11 | Chicago | 5.36 | (3) | 4.9 | (10) | 0.541 | (5) | 88 | 74 | 90 | 72 | 2 | Toronto | 4.99 | (7) | 4.65 | (5) | 0.532 | (6) | 86 | 76 | 87 | 75 | 1 | Texas | 5.15 | (4) | 4.84 | (8) | 0.529 | (7) | 86 | 76 | 80 | 82 | -6 | Oakland | 4.76 | (9) | 4.49 | (3) | 0.527 | (8) | 85 | 77 | 93 | 69 | 8 | Los Angeles | 4.73 | (11) | 4.52 | (4) | 0.521 | (9) | 84 | 78 | 89 | 73 | 5 | Boston | 5.06 | (6) | 5.09 | (11) | 0.497 | (10) | 81 | 81 | 86 | 76 | 5 | Seattle | 4.67 | (13) | 4.89 | (9) | 0.479 | (11) | 78 | 84 | 78 | 84 | 0 | Baltimore | 4.74 | (10) | 5.55 | (13) | 0.428 | (12) | 69 | 93 | 70 | 92 | 1 | Tampa Bay | 4.25 | (14) | 5.28 | (12) | 0.402 | (13) | 65 | 97 | 61 | 101 | -4 | Kansas City | 4.67 | (12) | 5.99 | (14) | 0.388 | (14) | 63 | 99 | 62 | 100 | -1 | |
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| New York | 97 | 65 |
| Minnesota | 96 | 66 |
| Detroit | 95 | 67 |
| Oakland | 93 | 69 |
| Chicago | 90 | 72 |
| New York | 97 | 65 |
| Minnesota | 96 | 66 |
| Detroit | 95 | 67 |
| Oakland | 93 | 69 |
| Chicago | 90 | 72 |
| R/G | (rank) | RA/G | (rank) | Pythagorean | (rank) | W | L | W | L | Luck | Cleveland | 5.71 | (5) | 1.71 | (1) | 0.901 | (1) | 6 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | New York | 7.86 | (1) | 4.57 | (7) | 0.729 | (2) | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | -1 | Los Angeles | 5.86 | (3) | 4.29 | (4) | 0.639 | (3) | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | Minnesota | 4 | (9) | 3 | (2) | 0.629 | (4) | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | Toronto | 5.43 | (6) | 4.43 | (5) | 0.592 | (5) | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | Oakland | 6.43 | (2) | 6.29 | (12) | 0.51 | (6) | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | -1 | Kansas City | 5.43 | (6) | 5.43 | (9) | 0.5 | (7) | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | Boston | 3.67 | (11) | 4.17 | (3) | 0.442 | (8) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | Texas | 3.67 | (11) | 4.5 | (6) | 0.407 | (9) | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | Seattle | 5 | (8) | 6.17 | (11) | 0.405 | (10) | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | Detroit | 5.83 | (4) | 7.67 | (14) | 0.378 | (11) | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | -1 | Baltimore | 4 | (9) | 6.5 | (13) | 0.291 | (12) | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | Tampa Bay | 3.14 | (13) | 5.71 | (10) | 0.251 | (13) | 2 | 5 | 1 | 6 | -1 | Chicago | 2.33 | (14) | 5.33 | (8) | 0.181 | (14) | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
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