Filed under: Rays, Red Sox, AL East, MLB Playoffs

Yesterday we hit up the NLCS hyperbole, and to be certain Manny Ramirez and Joe Torre provide the Fox crew with ample opportunities. And yet, there’s nothing that gets announcers worked up in a froth quite like the Boston Red Sox. Combine them with the feel-good Tampa Bay Rays and the TBS crew has a potential bonanza for hyperbole in this year’s ALCS.

Potential hyperbole: This Rays team is so amazing! They were so bad forever and NO ONE ever expected this kind of turnaround from them!
The truth: Well, 97 wins is more than anyone really expected this year, but observant baseball fans have seen the Rays coming for a couple of years now. Baseball Prospectus predicted 88 wins for them this year. Just because the talking heads predicted far fewer wins for them this year doesn’t mean that no one saw it coming.

Potential hyperbole: This Jason Bay is amazing! He’s really raised his play since his trade to the Red Sox! How did this amazing player just fall in to their laps from nowhere?!?
The truth: Jason Bay is in fact a professional baseball player who’s been playing very well for the Pittsburgh Pirates since 2005. In fact, he hit .282/.375/.519 with the Pirates and .293/.370/.527 with the Red Sox. Which is to say that he hit almost exactly the same with the Red Sox as he did with the Pirates. People just paid more attention to him in Boston.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments