2024 W-L Contest Entries

Brayan Bello is the youngest Red Sox Opening Day starting pitcher (24-316) in almost 30 years (Aaron Sele, 1995).

Happy Opening Day to everyone, except the Dodgers and Padres!

The Boston Red Sox begin their 124th season in Seattle. The Red Sox finished both 2022 and 2023 with a record of 78-84. They have ended up in the AL East basement for three of the last four seasons. It would not be a shock if by October, it's four out of the last five.

Here are the 2024 W-L Contest entries:

               W-L    BELLO ERA

Paul H.       91- 71    3.38
Matt B.       90- 72    3.41
Jacob L.      90- 72    3.63
David I.      90- 72    3.90
Elliot S.     88- 74    3.88
Jeff M.       88- 74    4.28
Ray P.        82- 80    3.99
Benjamin B.   82- 80    4.05
Brett H.      81- 81    3.45
Laura K.      81- 81    3.50  
Kara K.       80- 82    4.23
Allan W.      78- 84    3.92
David  F.     77- 85    4.06
Jeff L.       74- 88    3.64
Rich G.       74- 88    4.22
Matt K.       72- 90    3.66
Aimee C.      72- 90    4.00
John G.       70- 92    3.50
Rob R.        69- 93    4.82
Bricks C.     62-100    3.00

Everyone Loves A Contest #30: 2024 Red Sox W-L Record

The 2024 Red Sox season begins on Thursday night in Seattle – so it's time for the annual Red Sox W-L Contest!

The person who correctly guesses the Red Sox's 2024 regular season W-L record will win a signed copy of the upcoming paperback edition of Don't Let Us Win Tonight.

Contest entries must be emailed to me before the first pitch on Thursday night and include the following two predictions:

1. 2024 W-L Record
2. Tiebreaker: Brayan Bello's ERA

The winning W-L prediction must be exact, of course. The tiebreaker, if needed, will be the closest guess, either over or under.

Good luck . . . and as always, fuck the Yankees!

Schadenfreude 349 (A Continuing Series)

Christian Arnold, Post:

Gerrit Cole was spotted for the first time since The Post reported that the Yankees ace would be out for at least one-to-two months.

The reigning AL Cy Young winner was photographed at LAX on Wednesday.

In photographs exclusively obtained by The Post, Cole is seen wearing a dark long-sleeve shirt and blue jeans along with a grey backpack as he exited the bustling Los Angeles airport.

When approached by a videographer, Cole politely requested "a little space." . . .

Cole is slated to meet with noted sports surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache as concern over his ulnar collateral ligament prompted the Yankees pitcher to go for an in-person visit.

Team doctors and ElAttrache viewed Cole's preliminary film and the highly respected sports surgeon recommended further testing . . .

Cole is anticipated to be out for an "extended period" with the hope currently being that he could return in . . . early June. . . .

Yankees manager Aaron Boone had told reporters in Florida at spring training that Cole was "handling" the situation with his right elbow. . . .

Craig Calcaterra, Cup of Coffee:

It should be noted that the 1-2 month timeline is a best case scenario. . . . If Dr. ElAttrache finds something amiss short of a tear it could obviously take much longer for him to come back. If the closer look by the good doctor reveals a tear it's goodbye 2024 and part of 2025.

Like I've been saying all week, I have little confidence in health reports coming from the Yankees these days. This is the same club who ran Anthony Rizzo out for months last year before acknowledging — or realizing — that he had a concussion. It's the same club that, earlier this week, said that Aaron Judge was just sore when he was actually getting an MRI for a possible abdominal injury. They simply have no credibility when it comes to this stuff at the moment . . .

In the meantime, this is a huge hit for the Yankees, whose rotation . . . does not strike me as a contending rotation.

Yep, I knew it. A fuckin schadenfreude post about my fuckin arm.

Also: Former Yankee save-blower Aroldis Chapman shared a video of himself fondling his mother's breasts.

"Don't Let Us Win Tonight": A Paperback Edition Arrives May 21

A paperback edition of Don't Let Us Win Tonight arrives from Triumph Books in less than three months, on May 21.

I had hoped to expand the narrative, restoring some of the cuts we were forced to make back in 2013 to get the word count down, but that was always a long shot. In almost every instance, the cuts were made to shorten existing quotes as opposed to deleting them entirely. Back in November 2014, I shared an example of this pruning, posting the longer version of Curt Schilling's recollection of the Thanksgiving 2003 meeting with Theo Epstein, et al.

In addition to revised covers, this "20th anniversary" edition includes personal memories of 2004 and the seasons that followed from both myself and co-author Bill Nowlin (2,500 words each). Mine begins: "The 2004 Red Sox rewired my brain." We fixed a few typos, added a blurb from the legendary Peter Gammons, and made minor edits to smooth out some rough spots.

This fucking awesome book (now even better!) can be pre-ordered at Triumph, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Indigo, or (presumably) from your local book store.