Rays Rout Boston, 13-4; Lead Series 3-1

(NEWSER) - When it turns to October, no one dominates like Boston. Jason Bay slid headfirst into home plate to score on Jed Lowrie's two-out single in the ninth inning tonight as the defending World Series champs beat Los Angeles, 3-2, in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series. The Sox advance to play for the AL pennant for the fourth time in six seasons. More»

It was spectacularly unlikely

(NEWSER) - “It’s hard to describe how epic the Red Sox collapse was,” writes Nate Silver in the New York Times , calling it statistically like Bill Buckner’s famous botched play of 1986 “multiplied by itself two or three times over." On Sept. 3, the Red Sox had a 99.6% chance of making the playoffs. What’s more, by the time the Orioles were down to their last strike last night, the Sox had about a 98% chance of winning the game. More»

Last-day losses cap miserable month for Red Sox, Braves

(NEWSER) - The Boston Red Sox are in the record books and out of playoff contention after a terrible night capped a terrible September. The Red Sox allowed two ninth-inning runs in a 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles last night, the AP reports. Minutes after the Red Sox trudged off the field—still tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for the final playoff spot—the Rays secured the spot by beating the New York Yankees 8-7, having fought back from being down 7-0 in the middle of the seventh inning. More»

(NEWSER) - It takes more to build a winning baseball team these days than pure statistical analysis, writes Darren Everson in the Wall Street Journal. You need someone with what Everson terms “Bellhorn Syndrome.” Mark Bellhorn, owner of a .264 slugging average the previous year, became an inexplicable hero for Boston during its 2004 World Series campaign. In a sport where seemingly everything is quantifiably predictable, a few such inexplicable surprises strike each year. More»

Rays' talent rises to occasion, avoids epic collapse in beating Boston to seal Series trip

(NEWSER) - The improbable has happened. The Tampa Bay Rays have ousted the defending champion Red Sox. Sportswriters, start your fawning:

• The Rays won this thing with “talent, talent, talent,” which trumps experience every time, writes Bob Ryan in the Boston Globe. “The best team in the American League is going to the World Series.”
• Besides, the Rays played like grizzled veterans, writes George Vecsey of the New York Times, thanks to a “lineup full of heroes doing the big things and the small things.”