McAdam: Sunday didn't matter; Chris Sale's bullpen Monday means everything

The Red Sox wrapped up their regular season with a one-sided 10-2 thrashing of the Yankees Sunday. J.D. Martinez belted one more homer. Mookie Betts got to jog in from right field at the start of an inning and received a nice ovation. And the win allowed the Red  Sox to win the season series with their rivals, 10-9

But in the big scheme of things, it didn't matter a whit. And by the same token, it wouldn't have mattered if they had lost. The standings wouldn't have changed, nor would the playoff matchups or seedings. Those were already set.

Monday, however, is another story.

The Red Sox don't have a game, scheduled, of course. But they have something far more important: a bullpen session for Chris Sale. And what happens then will have far more impact on the Red Sox' championship designs than anything that took place on the field Sunday.

Sunday was about winning regular season game No. 108. Monday is about finding out about if the Red Sox have a chance to win 11 in October.

Sale has to be right -- and a lot better than he's been of late -- for the Sox to get anywhere in the postseason. It's not an oversimplification to suggest that Sale can make the difference between the Sox as A.L. favorites ... or another team with a chance at the pennant.

And for Sale to be that impact pitcher, he needs to fix his mechanics. In a hurry.

His diminished velocity and less-than-spectacular results of late won't get it done in the post-season, especially against quality lineups. The Red Sox are completely convinced that Sale's issues are not health related.

"I don't feel that's the reason,' said Alex Cora earlier this week. "We don't feel like it has anything to do with the shoulder.''

But the Sox have to do something with Sale's delivery to boost his velocity from the 90 mph average he displayed Wednesday night and ensure that his command is sharper as the real games loom.

Toward that end, Sale will throw what Cora termed "an aggressive bullpen'' Monday in an effort to find the extension that's been missing from his delivery the last few outings.

"I'm very confident (we can fix things),'' pitching coach Dana LeVangie told BostonSportsJournal.com. "We're in the process of doing it right now. I've told Chris this before: I'll take the guy over the stuff, regardless.''

LeVangie, Brian Bannister and others have been breaking down video of Sale, comparing the dominant Sale of the first four months with the one who has struggled at times since spending two stints on the disabled list because of mild inflammation of his left shoulder.

They'd like to see him pick up his tempo some. But beyond that, there are some definite mechanical adjustments to be made.

"(We need to) get the hands moving a bit, to get the arm started,'' said LeVangie, "and make sure he's not striding too far across his body so he can clear his hips to get his extension going. The further extension you can get, staying within your delivery, allows the ball to get on guys quicker and creates a cleaner path to whatever location you're going. When you're striding across your body too much, you're not going to have the true extension and you're going to throw the ball with a little pull to it, so the ball going to the plate has more of a crossing angle.

"Especially with Chris's release point, if he's striding across the body too much, you're going to be throwing the ball too far back rather than out front (of his delivery). The more extension, the better, because the hitter doesn't have as long to see the ball.''

Much of the problem of late has less to do with his shoulder and upper half than his trunk.

"When you have a better direction going toward the plate,'' said LeVangie, "you have the ability to free your hips, rather than rolling over them. That allows better extension and more deception with your pitch mix.''

Fortunately for the Sox, Sale is a good student, especially when he's presented with the proper illustration.

"He loves visual, so his ability to see it (on video) allows him to grasp it,'' said LeVangie. "Most guys want to see it so they can believe it.''

LeVangie believes the quality of Sale's stuff and the deception he provides are not issues. It's about regaining some of the missing oomph on his fastball that remains a work in progress. He cautions not to expect Sale to see a huge spike by Friday, the date of Game 1 of the ALDS. Instead, he said, see it as an ongoing process.

"Let's put in the proper context -- he missed some time here, competing,'' he said. "We need to respect that. And he's also building toward something, like you would at the end of spring training. He's getting back into it.

According to his pitching coach, Sale is confident he'll get squared away before the first game of the postseason.

"He trusts where's he's at right now and what he's able to do,'' LeVangie said.