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2012, adrian gonzalez, andrew bailey, bard, boston, buchholz, carl crawford, david ortiz, ellsbury, jon lester, josh beckett, mlb, pedroia, preview, redsox, youkilis
The Boston Red Sox came into the 2011 season as one of the most hyped Major League Baseball teams in recent history. At the beginning of September last season the team found itself atop the American League East with an 83-53 record, 1/2 game ahead of the New York Yankees, nine games up on the Tampa Bay Rays. Then everything went wrong. The team had a 7-19 record in the month, finished seven games behind in the division and, more importantly, were passed up by the Tampa Bay Rays on the final day of the regular season thus missing out on the playoffs (*). The Red Sox collapse led to change throughout the organization (**). General Manager Theo Epstein left for the Chicago Cubs; Ben Cherington takes over. Manager Terry Francona was let go in favor of Bobby Valentine. The roster had a lot of turnover outside of its core players. Even with all the change in the offseason, Boston still has a strong roster. Continue reading