Author: Dave Long

The Big Story — Patriots’ First Game: For the folks who don’t see the paper until Thursday, the Patriots will have already played Game 1 in Seattle in a Super Bowl rematch.

Prediction: 31-24 Seattle.

We’ll look closer at the team all month. But first, some quick thoughts on the offense.

With deep threat A.J. Brown and solid Romeo Doubs joining an already explosive back field and the best deep thrower in football they’ll be very tough to defend.

That’s if Will Campbell and company take the needed step forward in both drive blocking and pass protection.

With those new weapons, expect Drake Maye to top last year’s 31 TD passes if healthy.

Kyle Williams won’t have huge reception numbers, but despite the negative noise, I’m betting he’ll have an impact as a deep ball threat.

We’ll look at the D next week.

Sports 101: Cincinnati Reds rookie Sal Stewart is challenging to become just the third rookie to lead MLB in RBIs. Name the two rookies who’ve already done it.

News Item – Who’s Hot: Not even a one-day demotion to AAA could stop the white hot Merrimackian Mickey Gasper from looking like Roy Hobbs. As he hit a homer in the Sox’ stirring 9-8 comeback win over Seattle the day of his original Aug. 17 recall, his stats were, well, Hobbs-like — 12 for 30 with six homers and 13 RBI in his first 13 games back.

News Item – Dallas Cowboys Myth: With it being the 30 long years since the vaunted Cowboys have even been to a Super Bowl, why are they considered an “iconic” NFL franchise by many? That history actually says they’re an also-ran franchise run by a doofus owner that never meets their annual over-the-top pre-season hype.

News Item — Five Random NFL Observations:

If Aaron Donald can knock off the rust quickly, he and Myles Garrett might lead the Rams to beat the all-time record 72 sacks put up by the hellacious 1984 Bears.

The Patriots will be doing well to make it out of September at 2-2.

Buffalo’s the trendy pick over NE in the AFC East. But with up to 11 losable games their schedule is just as tough, the Patriots added more new ammo and Buffalo has a first-year coach. So I don’t see it.

After reversing Sam Darnold’s downward career start, can Minnesota Coach/QB whisperer Kevin O’Connell do the same with 2019 first overall pick Kyler Murray after he was dumped by Phoenix? Bet yes.

If I can’t pick the Seahawks vs. the Rams in the SB, I’ll take Denver vs. L.A.

The Numbers:

5 – years Tiger Woods lost his driver’s license for after pleading guilty to his latest speed-induced car crash.

62 – second most homers ever hit in one month, which the Chicago Cubs reached with a second most ever nine bombs in a 17-3 rout of Milwaukee on August’s final day.

… Of the Week Award

Thumbs Down – Will Flemming: The Red Sox radio announcer made a fool of himself in calling on the Sox to drill Yankee batter Austin Wells because teammate Jazz Chisholm had the temerity to steal two bases left UNCOVERED late in the 16-1 Yankees win at the end of the month.

Here are two tips for the fan boy announcer. If a team doesn’t want the score run up, it needs to pitch better. And if you leave bases uncovered as the Sox did in (I guess) conceding the win, you’re inviting stolen bases, because real players play hard until the final out.

Here’s a third tip: grow up.

Ludicrous Quote OTW – New Angels Owner Stan Kroenke: He said in announcing the purchase, “The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market.”

Based on what? Going to the World Series once in 67 years and being a stepchild city for L.A. area sports fans?

Sports 101 Answer: One-time Red Sox teammates Ted Williams with 145 in 1939 and Walt Dropo with 144 in 1950 are the only rookies to lead the league in RBI.

Final Thought — A Little History – 1972 Dolphins: Since nobody I saw on TV or anywhere else mentioned it amid last year’s hoo-ha about the Patriots’ weak 2025 schedule, I’ll do it now before everything gets underway in 2026.

No doubt their weak schedule helped. But how come when the undefeated Dolphins of 1972 come up their schedule is never mentioned? Is the reason no one mentions they had one of the weakest schedules in history that I’m the only one who knows that?

Yup, when they did it, the combined winning percentage of the opponents was a paltry 35%, whereas it was 39% for 2025 NE. And Miami only played two teams all year who were over. .500, where both the Chiefs and Giants were only 8-6. It wasn’t much better for the Pats, who faced just three.

But to Miami’s credit they finished it off with a SB win and the Pats did not. So how much does the schedule mean?

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – September Baseball Arrives: The best month in sports got off badly for the Sox. In their last shot at the Yanks this year they lost three of four over the weekend, with the last two being 9-2 and 16-1 demolitions. It dropped them four games behind New York for the top wild card spot and 8.5 behind division-leading Tampa.

The good news is their next 17 games are/were all against teams under .500, including all three of the last-place teams in the AL. First up are the Mariners at Fenway followed by Baltimore this weekend. If they take care of business, then the playoffs will be dead ahead. Enjoy.

Sports 101: Who holds the career records for most TDs scored and TD passes thrown on opening day in NFL history?

News Item – Patriots Update: They opened Wednesday in Seattle vs. the Seahawks — ready or not. Given that no player of consequence played a down in preseason, when the D has been awful, they haven’t looked like they are ready so far. Exhibit A was being brutalized 37- 13 by Cleveland Thursday night.

Kyle Williams – I’m Just Saying: I know he’s played against bench players so far. But after another deep strike TD, this time for 45 yards, the yards per catch average on his four pre-season catches was 32.7. And when added to last year’s three TDs on 10 catches, it’s five TDs on just 14 catches for a yards per catch average of 24.1. That’s nearly two yards better than all-time record holder Homer Jones’ 22.3.

News Item – Red Sox Update:

The bad guys are hitting just .218 vs. Payton Tolle while he’s struck out 141 in a career high 125.1 innings with a 3.09 ERA.

How much credit does Pitching Coach Andrew Bailey deserve for all the career years guys on the pitching staff are having?

Even Aroldis Chapman had consecutive ERAs in the high 3s just before getting here. Here it’s been 1.17 and 1.81 with 143 Ks in 106 innings over two Boston seasons.

As we enter the final month, has anybody got any idea who the Sox MVP is so far?

The Numbers:

227 – homers hit by Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber since the Sox let him walk after 2021, to close in on the Babe’s record 235 for most homers in the first five seasons with a new team.

16 – after exceeding the second luxury tax threshold, MLB teams whose entire payrolls are less than what the L.A. Dodgers luxury tax payments will be.

25 – starts Milwaukee hurler Jacob Misiorowski has allowed three earned runs or less to begin the season, to be the first to do that since Dwight Gooden in 1985.

… Of the Week

Thumbs Up – Sox (Interim) Manager Chad Tracy: For turning around the Sox after taking over from Alex Cora to make it a more enjoyable sports summer.

Alumni News – Bill Belichick: A good start for Coach B in Year 2 at UNC, as the Tar Heels upset TCU 15-10.

Alumni News – Ryan Day: The local lad’s Ohio State Buckeyes start the season as college football’s top ranked team.

What A Stupid I Yam Award – Me. Reader Harvey Silverman emailed to say it was Anthony Seigler (sent back to AAA on Sunday) who came in the spring trade with Milwaukee, not Nick Sogard as I said last week.

Sports 101 Answer: Hall of Famers Marcus Allen and Tom Brady hold the records for most TDs scored and TD passes thrown on opening day with 14 and 44 respectively.

Final Thought – A Little History For Bob Kraft: As the Christian Gonzalez contract saga meanders along the Patriots owner apparently needs a little history reminder. So OK.

Yes, Brady won those six Super Bowls, but never without having an A-list cornerback on the team.

The first three came with Hall of Famer Ty Law aboard. But after Coach B made one of his biggest mistakes letting Law walk after 2004 they didn’t win again for 10 long years.

That streak stopped when Darrelle Revis came in 2014 when they beat Seattle. DR left after one year and the Pats lost in 2015. They won in 2016 as Malcolm Butler, he of the greatest play in NFL history, had developed into a solid player. Then won in 2018 as Stephon Gilmore was the Defensive Player of the Year.

Since then, bupkis.

So it seems the Pats’ math for winning a SB goes like this: great QB + A-list CB = SB win. Not a guarantee of course, but it is the common denominator for their six SB wins. Which they now also have. So while you have two huge cash layouts coming up for the Gonzalez and Drake Maye contracts, that’s part of winning, Bob. If you want to win, suck it up and get the deals done.

And if not willing to do that, fine. It’s your money. But then it’s time to sell the team.

Prediction: Seattle 27 – NE 20.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Devers Back in Town: Well, it couldn’t have gone much better when the recalcitrant one returned to Fenway for the first time since he was shipped west last June.

It came amid a deserved hail of boos as Raffy Devers went 1-10 with a homer while the Sox were sweeping his SF Giants. With that now over, it seems a good time to review the results of that trade.

You may recall a pouting Devers was sent packing after petulantly refusing to play first base here. SF was 41-31 that day. They then went 69-93 in his first 162 games with them and 91-126 overall, while the one-game-under-.500 Red Sox rallied to go 52-37 the rest of the way in 2025 and 122-85 overall since they dumped him.

Not to mention that in flipping the key guy they got in the deal, Kyle Harrison, to Milwaukee, the Sox not only got their third baseman Caleb Durbin, but also spark plugs to the turnaround Nick Sogard and Andruw Monasterio. Plus the payroll flexibility gained from the $250 million saved, they were able to take on the big contracts of now 16-game-winner Sonny Gray and homer/RBI leader Willson Contreras.

Which makes it a gigantic win for John Henry and company.

Sports 101: With seven more starts left after reaching his 16 career high in wins Friday, Gray actually can do a rarity for these days: win 20 games. Name the last five Red Sox pitchers to do that in a season.

News Item – Red Sox Update – Who’s Hot:

They started the week 71-59, six behind TB in the AL East and 6.5 up in the wild card race. They need to go 19-13 in their final 32 games to reach 90 wins.

• Mickey Gasper – The Merrimack native came back up from AAA ablazing. He’s gone six for 17 with two doubles, three homers and nine RBI since.

• Erik Miller – In his first eight appearances since coming from SF, he allowed no earned runs while striking out a whopping 14 in 8.1 innings

• Brayan Bello: That demotion to AAA worked wonders. In seven appearances since his July 12 return, he’s 3-0 with a save while giving up just three runs in 27.1 innings for a 0.99 ERA.

News Item – Pats Update – Pats Down Eagles 24-21:

• Kyle Williams – Say what you will about the 2025 third-round pick, who some say is about to be cut. But after scoring on a 69-yard bomb Saturday, it’s interesting that in the few catches he had in 2025 (10) and two on Saturday, four have resulted in TD’s with three coming from 72, 69 and 33 yards out, while the yards per catch average on those 12 is 23.6. For context: The NFL’s YPC record is held by 1960s NY Giants receiver Homer Jones at 22.3.

• The Second O and D Lines – They were awful.

• Christian Gonzalez – Is the contract extension mess a real issue or being blown out of proportion by breathless media yacking?

The Numbers:

4 – times Wilyer Abreu struck out in Saturday’s first four at-bats before knocking in the winning run in their 3-2 walkoff win over SF.

8 – not quite 1968’s Year of the Pitcher, but the paltry number of .300 hitters in both leagues. For context, 30 did it in 1962.

22 – most runs ever scored while shutting out an opponent, as Milwaukee did in their 22-0 win over Seattle.

… Of the Week Award

Dumbest WNBA Related Comment – Shaq: Whose solution to making the league more exciting is to lower the baskets so everyone can dunk.

Sports 101 Answer: The last Boston 20-game winner was Rick Porcello when he won the 2016 Cy Young Award for his stellar 22-4 season. Before that, Josh Beckett (2007), Curt Schilling (2004), Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe (2002).

Final Thought – Thumbs Down – John Rich: While killing Little League Baseball’s 85-pitch-count rule, the Bar Stool Sports writer had comments after Alabama’s Kinley Rasmus got yanked after six scoreless innings for reaching the PC limit. Washington State then scored twice in the seventh to win 2-0. Rich wrote, “Feel bad for this girl. Pitches a 6 inning shutout. Breaks Mo’ne Davis’ strikeout record. Then loses in the 7th when they’re forced to bring in another pitcher. Team couldn’t get her a single run. Brutal.” Well John, we all do. Sorta. But it’s not like that’s never happened before.

First, he’s diminishing Washington’s pitching, which also pitched a shutout, didn’t they?

Second, since the beginning of time pitchers who’ve pitched great have gotten beaten by pitchers who pitched not quite as well but good enough to win.

Third, have you heard of Harvey Haddix in 1959? Bill Bevens, Game 4, 1947 World Series? Jack Sanford, Game 7, 1962 World Series? and the doozy of “he got no hit support” losses, Warren Spahn on July 2, 1963. Look them up. All pitched great in historic games and lost.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Red Sox Struggles: After winning 24 of 27 they came back to Earth last week as they lost five straight games and three straight series to sub-.500 teams Oakland, Toronto and Pittsburgh. They start the week at 66-58, five up on Baltimore in the WC race and 8.5 behind Tampa Bay in the AL East.

Sports 101: Cardinals rookie Joshua Baez astonishingly became the first rookie ever to hit three homers in his first three MLB at-bats Saturday. But it’s still a long way to tie the three who hit three homers in a game a MLB-record six times. Name those three.

News Item – Red Sox Updates:

• Who’s Hot – Wilyer Abreu: He hit .365 with six homers in August’s first 13 games.

• Sonny Gray: Got his career high 15th win in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Pittsburgh and the 2.65 ERA would be a career best too.

• Payton Tolle: The Sox won each of his last seven starts. And in winning four of them he moved to 8-6 overall with a 2.97 ERA.

• Caleb Durbin: After hitting his second to seal Saturday’s 4-0 win he’s the team grand slam leader with two.

News Item – Basketball Hall of Fame: Interesting in a WNBA season providing regular lunacy its players dominated Saturday’s Hall of Fame inductions, as in Chamique Holdsclaw, Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne there were three WNBA’ers going in to just one NBA’er, Amar’e Stoudemire.

The Numbers

2.5 – billion dollars made by L.A. Dodgers owner Mark Walter in just 14 months after flipping the L.A. Lakers to venture capitalist Josh Kushner and ex-Disney boss Bob Iger for $12.5 million after paying the Buss family $10 million for them last June.

9 & 12 – times ex-Celtic Dennis Schroder has been traded and teams he will have played for when he suits up for Charlotte in 2026-27 after being traded there Friday. Both are second most in league history.

14 – 2026 shutouts for the Red Sox after the Sonny Gray-led 4-0 win over Pittsburgh Saturday.

… Of The Week:

Thumbs Down – Jayden Daniels: Can’t tell who is greedier these days, the schools or the players. But while LSU football epitomizes the cesspool of avarice and greed college football has become, the latest You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me moment came from their 2024 Heisman winner demanding LSU never give the number 5 he wore there to another player because it “profoundly disrespected” him.

Sorry, pal, LSU owned that number you had the privilege to play in long before you were thought of in any way. It’s theirs, not yours!

Where do they find these people?

RIP – Don Nelson: The great long time NBA coach died last week at 86.But his number 19 is in the rafters for being a valuable role player on five Celtics championship-winning teams. RIP.

Alumni News – Eduardo Rodriguez: Anyone else notice the ex-Sox lefty is having a nice year in Arizona, where he’s 12-4 with a 2.71 ERA?

Sports 101 Answer: The players who hit three homers in a game six times are Johnny Mize, Sammy Sosa and Mookie Betts.

Final Thought –WBNA Chaos Happens Daily: It has craved the attention now coming its way for its entire 30-year existence. But after finally getting it, the league now appears to be crumbling under that weight.

From the worst/most clueless commissioner in sports history, Cathy Engelbert, to daily petty jealousy and rough treatment during games with jealousy target Caitlin Clark by established players who feel slighted by the buzz/attention she brought to their league that they couldn’t, to the worst officiating I’ve seen in any sport I’ve ever watched by far — the league is, as Colin Cowherd said last week, more like a reality show than a league.

And now they’ve let the idiot divisive culture warriors from Fox News and elsewhere into the fray. First by letting race drive a lot of the animosity nonsense with things like dimwitted Chicago guard DiJonai Carrington tweeting “white privilege” after justifiably being kicked out of a game for giving CC’s teammate Sophie Cunningham a mid-air cheap shot. Followed by Cunningham giving an answer to a question about trans athletes competing in the WNBA that guaranteed major pushback no matter which side she came down on.

Now they have two ex-NBA nitwits, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, threatening to apply for their draft.

Who are they? Well, the former Celtic was under threat of jail in Turkey for speaking out against the Turkish government, and the latter is a wannabe tough guy/fledgling politician looking for headlines who was so tough he quit the NBA because he was afraid to fly.

But all of that aside, with the WNBA having their highest TV ratings and largest league-wide attendance numbers, and just getting its biggest TV contract ever, which has made everyone more money, here’s the question:

Is all this lunacy actually helping the league much more than it’s hurting it?

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Red Sox Actually Do Have a Plan: After two years of public doubts and much caterwauling by Red Sox Nation (and myself) there really does seem to be a future plan.

Craig Breslow’s actions on trades show a type of player he wants. Complementary, offensive spark plugs and good fielding guys to fill in around the offensive core of Willson Contreras, Wilyer Abreu and, if he comes back this century, Roman Anthony.

Second, with him giving up at least two good young MLB pitchers in recent weeks and three more touted minor leaguers, it appears he believes he/they can identify and develop young pitchers.

Aside from a blip in the ’80s with Clemens, Hurst and company, that’s something that hasn’t happened in the Red Sox organization since that kid from Baltimore named Babe showed up in town.

And finally the brass trading away prospects are a signal Breslow and company aren’t hoarding them and are willing to move them to go for it. That’s good news.

Now, how good are they at judging the talent they brought here and let go to get them?

Only time will tell on that.

Sports 101: Who holds the Red Sox franchise record for most strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher?

News Item – Red Sox Update: They start the week having won 27 of their last 33, in a streak started when their second baseman and shortstops got hurt and were replaced by Anthony Seigler and Andruw Monasterio, who, oh by the way, they got in the Caleb Durbin trade.

Meaning the SS, second baseman and third baseman that sparked the streak no one saw coming, all came in the same trade with Milwaukee this spring.

Bet that’s never happened in baseball history before.

News Item – Red Sox Notes:

• Ceddanne Rafaela’s 28 doubles are most in the AL.

• The 14wins by Sonny Gray already is a career high.

• Brayan Bello’s got his groove back. After being demoted to AAA on June 4 following a horrid first two months, in his first six appearances back in Boston he’s 2-0 and the ERA is 0.76 over 22.2 innings.

• In Friday’s Nolan Ryan-like effort while beating Oakland 13-1, an astonishing 14 of the 18 outs Payton Tolle got came via strikeouts.

• Marcelo Mayer being dumped to SF mercifully brings down the curtain on the disastrous Chaim Bloom tenure as GM.

And I feel pretty certain he’ll be the worst guy named Marcelo to ever play for the Red Sox.

• How does a guy who has hit under .200 all year still be second or third on the team in RBI? Despite all the radio yacking to trade him, Jarren Duran somehow has done that with 60.

Good no trade there.

The Numbers:

7 – consecutive losses for the invincible Dodgers since (according to the pundits) winning the World Series already by agreeing to trade for Detroit’s Tarik Skubal.

8 – consecutive strikeouts to close out his start vs. Pittsburgh by ex-Red Sox hurler Kyle Harrison. Though since he got yanked after just five innings and 69 pitches the wussification of baseball continues unabated.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Adam Vinatieri: On his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The resume shows he started the NE dynasty with the greatest kick in NFL history and later the game winner in the famed Snow Bowl, along with two SB-winning kicks, scoring more points than anyone in history and chasing down sprinter Herschel Walker from behind to save a TD, which was the greatest tackle ever by a kicker. After the game Bill Parcells called him a football player, not just a kicker.

Sports 101 Answer: Jon Lester has the most strikeouts by a Red Sox lefty with 1,386.

A Little History – Lester in Chicago and Boston: Consistency was his forte, illustrated with the astonishing statistical facts that his 63.6 winning percentage and 3.64 ERA in nine years while pitching for Boston was matched identically to the 63.6% and 3.64 ERA during his six years with the Cubs. And his season average of 168 innings and 154 strikeouts in Boston and his 167 and 156 are within the margin of error of being identical in Chicago too!

The only other career statistical consistency to match that that I know was Stan Musial dividing his 3,630 hits evenly by having 1,815 at home and 1,815 Kyle Harrison on the road.

Final Thought – Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve: “We can’t let this happen.”That’s what the Lynx coach, already embroiled in controversy for comments made regarding trans athletes, said about the WNBA possibly hiring men to head coach in the league.

I get the sentiment. But that seems exactly the opposite of feminists correctly bellowing through years about women being discriminated against by gender and not by qualification while head to head with men for a job.

But now since women stand to lose their advantage in this situation, gender suddenly matters more than qualifications do. Got it, Cheryl.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Surging Red Sox: All through the 2013 season I kept saying, “I don’t know how they are doing this” — right up until they won the World Series.

And after seeing the Red Sox win a franchise best ever 21 of 24 games in July with their “who are those guys?” infield and a left fielder hitting below the Mendoza line but who seems to still get a big hit when needed, like Jarren Duran’s homer that iced the weekend sweep of the Dodgers in Sunday’s 8-4 win, that same feeling is coming back.

But it’s even bigger this time, as since June 25 they’ve won 14 straight over the Yankees, Rays, Dodgers and AL Central-leading White Sox. That’s a streak worthy of the 2018 Sox more than the 2013 club.

It left them four games up in the wild card race and five behind TB in the AL East at 60-51, with a chance to pick up more ground this week as all seven games come against the sub-.500 A’s and Blue Jays after three tough ones vs. the White Sox.

Sports 101: Who has driven in 150+ runs a most ever seven times?

News Item – Patriots Camp Opens: Here are the biggest stories this summer.

• Christian GonzalezContract: Which Bob Kraft is making worse by yacking about them already offering the biggest DB contract in history.

• Wide Receivers: They’re deep with some saying their new additions make Kayshon Boutte expendable. But unless it’s for a second-round pick or better, I say no. Depth matters.

• Shuffling on O-Line: It got run over in the Super Bowl. Was Will Campbell still hampered by his sprained knee? Or is he playing out of position?

• Stefon Diggs: What does his still being unsigned say about the Pats’ cutting him? Hard to deal with? ’Cause he was pretty good last year.

• Pass Rush: It seems like a possible issue since there are no obvious guys to lead the way. Especially with Harold Landry on the P-U-P.

News Item – Dodgers get Tarik Skubal: The call for a salary cap in baseball got louder last weekend when the oligarch Dodgers got (as usual) the biggest guy on the trade market for three top prospects.

The Numbers:

2 – at-bats it took newly acquired Red Sox Curtis Mead to get hit on the wrist with a pitch and possibly be lost for the season.

6 – first-inning walks incredibly recorded by ex-Cy Young winner/ Toronto hurler Shane Bieber before getting yanked after just 2/3 of an inning. Don’t think that’s happened since my friend Bob Procelli’s signature career Little League baseball win, when he somehow gave up 10 runs while pitching a one-hitter in his classic 56-10 win over the Larkfield LL Bees when he was 9.

15 – place Bill Belichick’s UNC Tarheels finished in pre-season polls for the 17-team ACC.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Turn-around of the Week: To gritty Sox shortstop Andruw Monasterio, who demonstrated getting beaned with a 99 mph fastball in the eighth inning didn’t intimidate him by hitting a game-winning two-run homer next time up in Wednesday’s 6-4 win vs. the Athletics.

NBA Rumor of the Week: It comes amid tense extension talks between Steph Curry and Golden State. It had Curry being sent to San Antonio for De’Aaron Fox and draft picks.

Random Thoughts:

Who can’t see the geographic sense to have SMU in the ACC?

Baseball does more dumb things to harm itself than the other three major sports combined. Starting with batting Shohei Ohtani lead-off. The dumbest thing I’ve seen since I started watching baseball in 1408 B.C.

Sports 101 Answer: Lou Gehrig is the all-time 150+ RBI seasons leader.

A Little History – Gehrig’s 150+ Seasons: His first came when he had 173 as teammate Babe Ruth hit 60 homers batting in front of him in 1927. The others included his AL record 183 in 1931 and two 173’s, with 158 his last in 1937.

Final Thought – Red Sox 2026: A few for the final two months.

Yes, Duran has struggled all year, but I bet he breaks out with a streak that carries them for two weeks at some point.

Is the back from AAA Brayan Bello destined for the Bob Stanley role of yesteryear the rest of the way? A reliever who pitches all over the game from a one-inning stint to pitching the final four scoreless innings to close it out like he did in Friday’s 9-4 win in L.A.?

Forget 2013: The way they keep coming back to win is starting to remind me of 1967. My nomination for the torrid Yaz-like last six weeks is Ceddanne Rafaela, who loves the big moment.

Not even L.A. will get as much at the trade deadline as Boston if Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony can come back healthy this month.

They need to go 31-21 the rest of the way to win 90 games.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.