Chad Finn of the Boston Globe dropped a comparison to 2002 earlier this week.  That is the comp I’ve been looking for all year.

That is the best comparison.

2002 - an interesting roster. What happened to those guys post-2002 and post-baseball really ran the gamut.

At least 2 of the guys are dead. Urbina went away to prison for years. Rickey and Pedro went in to the HOF. Tony Clark became the director of the MLBPA. Merloni became a Boston media guy. Jose Offerman got into ugly incidents at various levels of baseball. Manny was Manny.

Pretty good crowd at fenwayfor the suspended game.

Pretty good crowd at fenwayfor the suspended game.

Are you there?

Well, it's over. That was fast.

No I forgot o worked in the city I’d have gone over but I wasn’t fighting traffic and paying $40 to park for one inning.

I like that in Jimmy’s Fund week it was Holt getting the rbi.

I'm still holding out for the 20-5 run! It's coming soon...

I know there's a juiced ball, but it's still weird to me that several offensive players are above expectations and yet the team is so much worse than last year.

I know there's a juiced ball, but it's still weird to me that several offensive players are above expectations and yet the team is so much worse than last year.

I was thinking about this the other day when Devers, Bogaerts, and Betts all hit doubles in the same game. They're now on 48, 44, and 38, respectively, and Benintendi has another 38. Just ridiculous.

I'm still holding out for the 20-5 run! It's coming soon...

From now on
What's waited till tomorrow starts tonight
It starts tonight!!

I've been waiting all year for this team to start firing. It's a good team that can be dangerous if they find their mojo. We have a bit of hope, today. They have a punchers chance, at the least I hope we have a string to run out for the remainder of the season.

Just to be contrarian, I don't see the 2002 comp. That team was coming off an 83-win year, and played like a 100 win team, but only got 93. I think 93 was a good result for them. That's very different from a World Series winner trying to repeat.

And yes, the 2002 team had some big holes that, if they were filled, would have made a big difference. I don't really see that with this team. Their downfall seems to be that the guys they were relying on in the rotation were bad. Not exactly holes like Tony Clark, Rey Sanchez, or Jose Offerman.

How about 2006 for a comp? Coming off a couple of excellent years with what seems like a really good rotation. Clement and Beckett are not the answers you hoped they'd be in the rotation. Offense is good. You end up at 86 wins.

Maybe 2011, though that season had a very different shape. In the end, both teams are undone largely by their starting pitching.

Yes, in retrospect, Velazquez, Wright, Brian Johnson, and Cashner were not viable Plan B's. Our minor league depth for starters was inadequate. All the 1st/2nd rd draft busts this decade left the cupboard empty (Pat Light, Trey Ball, Teddy Stank, Kopech, & Groome)