Sunday Morning Coffee Thoughts

Good morning my friends. This version of Sunday Morning Coffee Thoughts comes to you from beautiful Downeast Maine, namely the coastal city of Machias. Deb and I love this area of the state. As a bonus, I get my fill of blueberry pie courtesy of the best providers of such, Helen’s Restaurant located on US Route 1 in Machias. As the state slogan says “The way life should be”!

This week I want to call out some interesting things we’ve seen so far as we approach the final month of the regular season for the Boston Red Sox. This team has made summer fun for everyone! Head back into the kitchen. Locate that misplaced Clayton Mortensen mug. Dust it off and fill it to the top with the caffeinated beverage of your choice. Find a comfortable spot to sit and enjoy my latest missive.

Red Sox

If nothing else, the 2026 season for the Red Sox has no shortage of surprises both negative and positive.

Let’s start on the negative side of the ledger. First, a less than stellar start going 0-5 after winning game one of the season. Then, some very uneven play that resulted in a managerial change after 10-17 start in April, despite winning their game that day 17-1. You lose your ace starter and young star outfielder to injury and the team continues to play uninspiring baseball. Your low point in the season was coming home on June 25th from Denver on a much delayed charter flight and arriving in Boston 14 games under .500 as you are set to face the Yankees.

That’s when things turned around. You sweep the Yankees and since the start of that series your record goes from 32-46 to a lofty 69-59 in a manner of two months. That’s a 37-13 clip and a .740 winning percentage. You hold a significant lead in the 2nd wild card slot and are breathing down the Yankee’s neck for slot number one. This is impressive no matter how you look at it and the crowning achievement was a 15 game winning streak.

Every night it seems there was a new hero. Guys like Sogard, Monasterio, Seigler, Gasper and Eli White all chipped in on offense. The battered pitching staff has gotten an ace like lift from Sonny Gray (16-3). Repeated stud performances from Payton Tolle in his rookie season. Solid contributions from Bennett and Sandoval, and a bullpen that while at times seems gassed, trots out there and gets the job done at a fairly decent clip.

Then there are the oddities of this season. Things that happen and it makes you scratch your head and say “What did they just do”? The win streak is huge and going a record setting 21-4 in July is impressive on it’s own. Still, certain things stick out in terms of individual and team performance at an incredible pace.

This past week is a prime example of what I am talking about. Monday night, in an 11-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, no Red Sox batter struck out for the entire game! There were times this year when that number would average 8-12 times a game! The team hadn’t done that since 2010 and was a noteworthy accomplishment. Now here comes the proverbial icing on the cake. Every starter collected at least one RBI that night. Those two things combined had not happened for the Red Sox since June 25, 1949. In that game the Red Sox beat the lowly St. Louis Browns 13-2.

(Authors baseball history note: The St. Louis Browns at that time were known to be the doormats of the American League. In 1949 their record was 53-101-1. They later went on to become what we know today as the Baltimore Orioles starting in 1954).

The current uptick and moderate consistency in offensive production since the beginning of the season has been well documented. A mix of timely hitting, small ball baseball (bunting and base running) and the long ball have made the current winning ways possible. Lost in the team effort sometimes is an effort by an individual player that goes almost unnoticed but is an example of how this team rallies around and for each other.

This week the winner of the “Expect the Unexpected Award” goes to Mickey Gasper. Mickey has ridden the Worcester to Boston ride down the Mass Pike a couple of times this season. His latest call up was on Sunday night after Yoshida went down with a hamstring injury. Fear not, over the next three games, the switch hitting Catcher/DH slammed a home run in every game of the Diamondback series. He has made the most of his time when he has been on the MLB active roster and is a much appreciated but overlooked contributor for the club. He’s not alone. This team is loaded with guys just like him. They are 27-30 years old, veteran minor leaguers who know what is expected when they get the call.

As each game passes, my appreciation for what I have witnessed in terms of the turn around for his club grows exponentially. This is no fluke. Chad Tracy has created a team that could have rolled over and played dead for the season. Instead they are focused on winning and doing whatever is required of them to make it happen. Twenty-Six players are all working in unison to make it happen. No ego’s, no primadonna’s, no “superstar” treatments. Just twenty-six guys who want to play winning baseball. The problem is now everyone knows what they are capable of and the days of sneaking up on teams is in the rear view mirror. No worries, they are figuring it out and that my friends is the beauty of this season.

Your Pundit is on the road again

I love living in Maine. It is a beautiful state filled with hard working and friendly people. Deb and I are particularly fond of the DownEast portion of the state. This weekend we are traveling to Machias, Eastport, Calais, Lubec and Campobello Island in New Brunswick Canada. The rugged beauty of the coastline, augmented by many kinds of wildlife (land and marine), make it a most treasured experience each time we visit. There are small shops, restaurants and businesses that rely on visitors to stay afloat. It’s not easy making a living up here! I encourage you to visit and let the area and it’s people work their magic.

THE “OG’S” IDLE THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK

• The Yankees keep getting bashed with the Good News and then Bad News. Good News…. Cody Bellinger is rehabbing. Bad News….. Max Fried is back on the IL.

• Nice to see that 19 year old outfielder Justin Gonzales was promoted to Portland. With all the talk about Arias, this kid has just kept playing himself into the discussion of top quality prospects in the Red Sox system.

• The reception that Raffy Devers has gotten so far does not surprise me!

• Texas, Minnesota, Toronto, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit and Seattle are all vying for the last Wild Card slot in the AL. The most games out of the spot is three and that honor belongs to Seattle.

• Speaking of Seattle, the Brewers smoked the Mariners 22-0 on Tuesday night. The Mariners contributed to the carnage by logging four errors in the process. Third Baseman Leo Rivas closed out the game for the Mariners and allowed nine runs (seven earned), nine hits, walked one and threw 31 pitches (17 for strikes) and now has a lofty 63.00 ERA. Let those things marinate in your brain for a while.

• The news out of Los Angeles about the financial troubles for the Dodgers is disturbing. Shohei has an almost unheard of opt out clause that he can exercise if owner Mark Walter or baseball head Andrew Friedman leave their leadership slots in the Dodger organization!

• Imagine Shohei and Skubal hitting the market this winter at the same time? I wonder what the effect would be on the looming baseball labor negotiations?

• There is no reason to rush Trevor Story, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and in particular Roman Anthony back before September 1st. They rushed Romy and it didn’t work out. Same to some degree with Adley Rutschman. Be smart about the lesson(s) you’ve learned!