All September, we watched the Red Sox half-heart their way through the month. Guys got days off, pitchers were pushed back, bullpen arms were saved, and the general intensity of all the games flat out sucked, especially as a late season product where historically there’d be a race to get into or improve playoff positioning.

All of this uninspiring play was only potentially made palatable by one overarching theme: After losing their previous series in New York at the end of August — And with it the tiebreaker over the Yankees — the Red Sox essentially made a deal with the baseball devil in which they (apparently) made their return trip this…

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