McAdam: Red Sox will continue aggressive approach on bases in postseason, and they should

Maybe you didn’t like how aggressive the Red Sox were on the bases this past season. Maybe the sight of a runner going first-to-third, with the game on the line, made you queasy. Maybe just hearing the phrase “risk-reward’’ made you break out in hives.

If so, I have some bad news for you: you’re about to see more of it this week. And that’s how it should be, too.

All year, the Red Sox ran like someone was after them on the bases.  They took extra bases, took chances, and yes, on occasion, took themselves out of innings.

They didn’t do it as a lark. They did it because they had to.

When you finish last in the American League – and 27th in all of baseball – in home runs, you have to make up for your lack of power somehow.

“I’d hate to think how few runs we would have scored if we hadn’t played this way,’’ said one Red Sox official in September.

The Red Sox chose to compensate by running and putting extra pressure on the opponents. Most teams aren’t used to having that sort of pressure applied to them on the basepaths, and they responded accordingly, by sometimes hurrying throws, and making errant throws.

Sometimes, the strategy backfired. Sometimes, the Red Sox violated the cardinal sin of not making the first or third out of an inning at third base.

But those missteps were more than canceled out by the number of extra bases the Red Sox advanced. And for a team without the ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark at will, it was the right way to play.

These are not, thankfully, your father’s Red Sox, or even your older brother’s Red Sox. Those Red Sox teams were plodding and one-dimensional. The most running they did was when they hit the ball out of the ballpark.

But these Red Sox, the 2017 Red Sox, are athletic, with the ability to steal a run 90 feet at a time. Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi have plus-speed, and Betts rates as one of the league’s best and most intelligent baserunners. Xander Bogaerts may only have fringe-average speed, but he, too, shows superb instincts on the bases.

On nights when Sandy Leon isn’t in the lineup, there isn’t a single baserunner who doesn’t possess at least average speed. Even Hanley Ramirez runs relatively well, considering his age and size.

The Red Sox’ daring on the basepaths wasn’t limited to taking extra-bases. They finished sixth in baseball in stolen base attempts, a ranking that would have been unthinkable – and frankly suicidal – for many Sox teams in history.

The matchup with the Astros could provide more opportunities. Houston was one of the worst teams in the game in throwing out would-be basestealers. Starting catcher Brian McCann and Evan Gattis were both extremely poor throwing out runners. As a team, they allowed 102 steals in 116 attempts (87.9 percent).

John Farrell noted Tuesday that Houston’s top two starters, Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel, present challenges for base-stealers. Verlander has made some adjustments to better control the running game – a past weakness for him — while Keuchel, as a lefty, prevents runners from getting good secondary leads at first.
But as Tim Britton of the Providence Journal noted, the Astros’ four high-leverage relievers – Ken Giles, Luke Gregerson, Chris Devenski and Will Harris – allowed 26 steals in 29 tries.

That could, in turn, offer opportunities for pinch-runner Rajai Davis to take advantage to get the Sox into scoring position in close and late game situations. Davis will be on the roster with the express purpose of being this October's Dave Roberts — i.e. someone who can steal a base when the Sox need it the most, and when the opposition knows it's coming.

But the aggressiveness won't be limited to base-stealing. The Red Sox will continue to preach the need for forcing the issue and taking every extra base opportunity presented.

Perhaps there will be an out or three made on the bases as the Red Sox continue to push the envelope. But that approach, much derided by some, is what got them here. Don’t expect it to change now.