RagahRagah

Maybe you could provide a counterpoint instead. The idea that fandom means you can't criticize or realize and admit where there are problems is ridiculous. "Well, anything can happen!" =/= actually being a playoff caliber team. But I know that for many, being rational is not a thing. I provided a balanced perspective; I gave the Sox benefit of the doubt for some things and also reamed Renteria. But the Sox still have issues enough that prevent them from being ready for this.

I don't remember that far back but anyone I know that does has essentially tried to make me feel better about Ricky by telling me no one was worse than Terry. Hyperbole?

These posts bashing Kopech are such bad takes. Life is more important than baseball and you can't take someone else's inventory. Period.

Sorry but not fooled. You just can't acknowledge the points and face the music. I echo his points but am not showing any aggression. So... give me a try then. Prove that's what your lack of rebuttal is actually about.

Bauer and Ozuna are definitely at the top of my list.

I think naming the guy you're throwing under the bus is just not going to happen and probably shouldn't. We all know who they're talking about. No reason to go there. To be honest, this is probably the most I've seen ambassadors of an organization bash someone in that organization. Watching Frank and Ozzie and to even a small extent Chuck just tee off on the Sox manager like this is surreal, that's just how bad he's been. But no, no reason to say his name. Not necessary.

Yeah, I missed the post game, would love to see it.

Lol. Thanks.

I love Frank Thomas.

Anything else?

Why shouldn't we? We love our team. There's no reason not to be passionate about it. But that's not even relevant because you don't have to be passionate or worked up to simply state what is true, which is that this team overacheived. Not sure where your logic is coming from. So do you never criticize the team or management at all? Nooooot likely. But if you do, well good for you.

I forgot to mention that it feels like we're gonna have to bank on Kopech recovering and growing into a stud.

It's ok to be bitter.

When someone needs to be told something, they need to be told something. Telling someone to grow up is not childish at all, it's telling that person that they were the ones who needs to stop being childish. Why would you not speak harshly of your team there's a reason to do so? Sugar coating things is not good. People have to face the bad, too.

I have to admit that while I really dig this community, I believe there is far too much knee jerking and emotion that lacks realism here. I love this team but I also put things into perspective. The amount of hot takes and realistic takes is pretty staggering. To be honest, I was gonna be super happy if they won but am not upset that they lost. Why? Realistic expectations were that they would not go farther than this. Expecting this team to be a serious contender with basically 2 starters and a lot of questions marks, as well as some old bad habits (still overall not great with RISP, etc.) is frankly unrealistic. Can anything happen? Sure. But once you have to go to that mindset you have to realize the team is not as good as you expect or think. While I want our team to succeed, I also want to earn it. And luck is usually not going to be enough to get you through to the end. Granted, there are external factors. Bad umpiring has been a BIG factor and Renteria is an utterly terrible manager. But a lot of the Sox's failure has been on them as a team. That said, what going forward? I do also cast blame Hahn's way as we did add some big pieces but missed out on a lot that we could have had that could have made us that contender. At this point I dont think I need to add them because they've been discussed ad nauseam. So what next? FA class this coming offseason and next don't look great so we HAVE to be aggressive and get some key pieces, but pitching is going to be scarce, and not a lot of young talent in terms of that available. I've said from the beginning that while I'm glad they finally looked to rebuild, the same people that drove the franchise into the ground in the first place are the ones overseeing the rebuild. I will say that I'm hopeful, but I'm not going to lie and say I'm super positive that we're going to get what we need. There's a lot of reasons to fear that this organization is ultimately going to fail. And one of them has been Hahn's inability to sign big free agents. I remember that when the rebuild for started a lot of people here were annoyed that the Sox kept hoarding pitching prospects and claimed we didn't need that many. And I remember laughing at them. Renteria also has to go. I get that we made the playoffs but that wasn't a big accomplishment this season and Renteria effectively helped cost us the division. He's an absolutely brutal in-game manager I could care less about results leading to manager of the Year titles and whatnot, that sort of thing should be decided analytically just like everything else, not just based on the record your team put up. Long story short, I'm going to continue holding on to a little Hope as a Sox fan, but I cannot share what I honestly believe are a lot of delusions running rampant in this forum. I'm not telling you you should give up all hope, but I would expect more people to understand and acknowledge that this team basically got what they deserved and what I expected today. And no matter what anyone accuses me of after reading this, I am a gigantic Sox fan. And being a fan doesn't have to mean being blind. I'm glad you all are so passionate about this team but I believe more of you need to come to terms with the situation that we are in. All we can do is hope that either one of JR or Hahn get their heads out of their asses, or both. Go get Bauer and Ozuna!!! P.S. - being consistent as I am, I also shake my head at the people that absolutely flip out on every bad result and curse a player or manager for something it isn't their fault. Princeton, Dallas and Jose are not people that anyone should really be angry at right now. Some hot takes I've seen after someone strikes out or make a miscue a pretty ridiculous as well. I'm one of the biggest proponents of getting rid of Ricky Renteria, but admittedly some people here even blame him for stuff that isn't even his fault.

What did he say that was childish? Everything he stated was correct. Maybe plead a case?

He's 100% right. And I dont see that he said anything childish.

I appreciate positivity, but thinking they could be WS contenders based on a truncated season of beating mostly bad teams, especially without a full rotation and a terrible manager is head-scratching to me.

I really hope that's not your way of saying that the offense should be held more accountable. If the Bears can't score any damn points while their defense is dealing, you don't get mad at the defense when they start to wear down. And quite frankly, I know you can't actually speak for anybody but yourself but if the mentality is actually that "everybody" knows the pitching is bad, the no one should actually expect this team to advance in the playoffs.

Hilarious how an announcer can be tentative to announce that was a ball when it was outside by at least 3 inches, LOL.

I honestly have no idea what happened the first two innings. Is there a reason that Dylan isn't available to pitch?

We really are relying on our offense to win playoff games. Ricky or no Ricky, the pitching staff on this team is not on that level (yet). I vividly remember when we started the rebuild and we're stockpiling on pitching prospects that a lot of people here were getting angry that we were spending so many resources on pitchers and we didn't need that many. And I remember laughing at them.

I just don't see that we have the pitching depth for an extended playoff run. And if we add crochet to the injury list that's going to be really bad. Hopefully I'm wrong on all that. Mazara is looking hot now so who knows.

But likely not "deep series of the postgame" dangerous. Our rotation is tenuous right now.

Damn it, now I'm getting tricked into getting excited! As much crap as I've talked about various players on this team, I'm proud of these guys. It's really a shame we didn't get any starting pitching at the deadline, we could be really dangerous.