Can the Red Sox Win the AL East This Season?

The Boston Red Sox find themselves in a very good position to claim their 1st AL Eastern Division title since 1995. Since that time, the team has been perhaps the best 2nd place team and has gone to the playoffs by route of the Wild Card. The city of Boston has a World Series Title in 2004. The question that comes to past as of late will be can The Red Sox win the AL East and maintain the lead they have leading into the 2nd half of the 2007 Baseball Season. The closest this team has had to winning the division was in 2005 when they tied with the same regular season record; due to the season series record between the Yankees and Red Sox, that however was given to the Yankees continuing their active streak of division championships. Winning the division is something Boston hasn't done in 11 years excluding this season and should they fail, it will be 12 years. To further illustrate that point, the Yankees more so have basically been the Kings of the AL East winning that division from 1998 up to last season and are in danger of not only failing to win the division but also not making the playoffs. The team has lost Curt Schilling for some a while but that has yet to slow this team down. Other players have stepped up to the plate and helped deliver giving them victories and maintaining 1st place.

This has been a trend and has more so continued over the years whenever Boston has lead going into the All Star Break. They would go ahead and lead looking like they would easily take the division but they apparently have choked and the Yankees sneak in and take it just like that. In a city that has seen them come so close and yet so far, this has been nothing new so there is no time to celebrate just that. Until the division has a huge lead over it like 15 games ahead or something to that effect, it is not possible to write a team out just like that. When it's September, only then will it be easy to say whether or not the Red Sox will win the division, get back in the playoffs, or will they be either a Wild Card team or a team that despite doing really well this season, just barley miss the playoffs.

The organization has proved that they are willing to build a winning team together. For the most part, the Red Sox have had good seasons, though not all have been playoff years. They spent the money on getting the players they want to build a World Series caliber team and it had been done in 2004 especially. To further prove that point, that season was the year they did the impossible coming back from a 3-0 gap to win the ALCS and then go on to win the World Series. Just last season, they did struggle a bit falling to 3rd place behind Toronto but not had a bad year as far as wins and losses go. This team has not been a joke despite finishing 3rd place with a winner record. Despite losing star players like Pedro Martinez or Johnny Damon that was apart of that World Series Championship club, the team still has a good core of players showing that they are not the only ones that made the team.The fans have nothing to worry about at this very moment as they still lead by a comfortable 9 games over their rivals, the Bronx Bombers. If this continues, then it will be easy for them but as history has dictated, it's not over until the fat lady sings. As long as they pitching good and can win those important games, they will win. To further prove that point, they have to also beat everyone in their division without a whole lot of trouble. If that does happen, which most likely will, this team will do really well but the question remains can they win in the playoffs? They can win in the playoffs but getting back to the World Series will just be another challenge that perhaps the city of Boston is looking forward to.