McAdam: In final week, Red Sox have a reason to watch the out-of-town scoreboard

September is usually a great time for scoreboard watching.

Even hardened managers, who like to continually remind everyone that they're only focused on what they can control, will acknowledge that they will occasionally sneak an in-game peak to see how an out-of-town game is going and whether the score might have a positive impact on their own team's fortunes.

For the Red Sox, of course, that curiosity became a moot point by the time the Sox were pulling out of a nine-game nosedive in mid-August, effectively ending what hope that had of contending in 2020. Ever since then, they've been lodged in last place, a fact that Ron Roenicke can't, try as he might, help but notice from his perch in the home Fenway dugout  — which affords him an all-too-clear sightline at the AL East standings on the left field wall.

Now, however, in the final week of the season, there's finally incentive for Red Sox fans to pay attention to out-of-town scores. Not because the Sox' playoff chances have lately improved -- spoiler alert: they haven't -- but because their positioning in next summer's draft almost certainly has.

And this comes with a twist: rather than rooting against the teams closest to you in the standings, you're actually rooting for them.

According to ESPN.com, commissioner Rob Manfred has, after some deliberation, determined that "it's highly likely that the draft order will be determined by this year's record.''



Until recently, that had been up in the air. Manfred was at least somewhat reluctant to base the draft order solely on the 2020 standings. The fear was that a shortened season would be too small a sample size upon which to base the draft order. For a time, there was the thought that he would combine the 2019 and 2020 win-loss records to give a more complete snapshot and avoid rewarding a team that was awful for merely 10 weeks.

But now that the season is assured of finishing Sunday, Manfred is less hesitant.

All of which is good news for the Red Sox. Instead of an 84-win season to weigh them down, the Sox get to be judged just on this season's nightmarish merits, guaranteeing that they will probably realize the highest position in the 55-year history of the draft.

(The Red Sox have never chosen higher than third since the draft was first introduced in 1965. They chose fifth, fourth and third in the first three drafts, then didn't land in the Top 10 again until 1993, when they selected Trot Nixon. Twice in the last seven years, they've chosen No. 7 again, taking pitcher Trey Ball in 2013 and Andrew Benintendi in 2015).

But there are some pitfalls standing in the way.

Had they not had a decent  stretch -- relatively speaking, that it -- over the last month (14-16 in their last 30), the Red Sox might be well on their way to clinching the first overall pick next June. Instead, that "honor'' will go to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who went into Tuesday's action with a 15-39 mark and a magic number of three.

The Red Sox (20-34), meanwhile, are neck-and-neck with the Arizona Diamondbacks (also 20-24) and Texas Rangers (19-35).

Finishing second would enable the Red Sox to choose whichever one of two Vanderbilt pitching stars isn't chosen first by the Pirates: Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter, son of former major league pitcher and current broadcaster Al Leiter.

If the Red Sox luck into either one, they'd almost certainly be getting their most talented amateur pitching prospect since they took Roger Clemens out of the University of Texas with the 19th selection in the 1983 draft. Rocker or Leiter could, in a few years time, potentially become their Gerrit Cole or Jacob deGrom - an elite, top-of-the-rotation ace.

A hot week, however, could complicate things.

First, the fact that the Red Sox are hosting the equally moribund Orioles in the final home series of the season doesn't help. But then things get better -- which is to say "tougher'' -- for the Sox when they close out the season with a three-game set in Atlanta, where the Braves currently own the third-best record in the National League.

Meanwhile, Arizona goes head-to-head with Texas for the next two nights, then finishes with four against Colorado. When the Rangers are done with the Diamondbacks, they close out with four against the Houston Astros.

While it would be naive to suggest that Rocker or Leiter are the only potential studs available in the draft, most evaluators agree that they do stand above the rest of the talent pool expected to go in the first round. Then again, the baseball draft cannot be compared to the NBA and NFL draft, where top picks routinely step in and contribute on the court or on the field immediately.

In baseball, there is a good deal of projection required, and even Top 10 picks are not guaranteed successful MLB careers, with Ball, who never got out of Double A, standing as the most recent and obvious example for the Red Sox.

But beyond watching Bobby Dalbec take aim at The Wall and one more glimpse of Tanner Houck, the draft race has brought a rooting interest to the final week of an otherwise forgettable Red Sox season.