McAdam: Red Sox intent on flipping script from past playoff failures

The Red Sox seem to instinctively understand that their 108 regular-season wins -- impressive as they might have been -- will do them absolutely no good once their 2018 postseason begins Friday night. Over the last week, Alex Cora has practically made it his personal mantra to observe that the Sox will be '0-0' when the first pitch is thrown.

True enough.

But while the Red Sox understand that their regular-season success provides them with no advantage, no edge, against either the Yankees or Oakland Athletics, they also need to realize the team must also distance itself from its recent horrid playoff results.

In each of the last two seasons, the Red Sox won the AL East only to meet with quick exits in the American League Division Series. The Sox were swept three straight by the Cleveland Indians in 2016 and last fall, were quickly eliminated by the eventual world champion Houston Astros in just four games.

In summary: two division titles, one playoff win.

This time, the expectations are far greater: After a record-setting season, the Red Sox have to find a way to be better in the playoffs.

"This is what we've been working for spring training, just getting to the postseason,'' said outfielder Andrew Benintendi. "Now, we're here. We've been kind of prepared for it for a while now and I think we'll be ready.''

If nothing else, the Red Sox have had more time to anticipate what's to come. Unlike, say, a year ago, when the Sox didn't clinch the division until the second-to-last day of the season, the team qualified for the playoffs weeks ago and wrapped up the division with 10 days remaining.

Their place atop the AL East was a given, really, since the early August when they began to put some separation between themselves and the Yankees in the division. The rest was a mere formality.

Benintendi is part of the team's core group which seemed, at times, overwhelmed the last two Octobers. The games seemed to speed up on the player, especially the younger one who were getting their first taste of the postseason.

"Obviously, the last two years haven't gone the way we wanted,'' said Benintendi. "There's a lot more media and whatnot, but when it comes to the game, the game's the same, really. We hold high expectations for ourselves and nothing else matters. We're going to go out there and play hard and hopefully make a deep run.

''We know what to expect. We're not going to let any situation get any bigger than what it actually is. There's going to be ups and down and momentum shifts. Everything's kind of bigger in the playoffs. If it goes bad for us at some point, (we have to) weather the storm and realize what kind of team we have. We know what it takes to come back.''

That's been a failing of the Sox in each of the last two trips: they've fallen behind early and never recovered. Last year, they fell behind the Astros 2-0 a few batters into the bottom of the first, and trailed 5-2 by the fifth. In 2016, although they took a brief 1-0 lead in the top of the first in Game 1 against Cleveland, it wasn't long before they were down 4-2.

"I just think we need to play with urgency,'' said Mookie Betts. "You have to have the mindset from pitch one like it's going to be your last.

But while some view the disappointment of the last two playoff trips as a learning experience, others would like to dismiss it altogether.''

"I really don't like to dwell on the past,'' said Jackie Bradley Jr. "Who cares what happened two years ago? It's not this year. We feel like we have a great team and we're going to keep moving forward. Experience is experience. You can take it both (ways) -- you still have to go out there and play a game and execute, no matter whether you had experience before or not. Everything is more magnified, but you still have to go out there and play the game. I think pressure is all self-inflicted. I think it's all in how you view it and what you base things off of.

"Everything's different. The only thing I can take out of (the past) is that winning is going to feel a lot better than losing.''

If nothing else, the Red Sox have the luxury of having home-field advantage this time -- they began each of the last two Division Series on the road -- which could allow them to get off to a better start. The Sox finished with a 57-24 record at Fenway, the best home mark in either league.

"That's big,'' conceded Benintendi. "Hopefully, the atmosphere here will be great. Winning the first couple of games is big, and so is getting on the board early. So that's what we're going to try to do.''

"It feels good to be able to start here,'' said Bradley.

Knowing, of course, that the 2018 Red Sox will ultimately be judged on how they finish.