It feels fitting somehow that the man who drove in the game-winning run in the Red Sox’ ALDS-clinching victory was Kiké Hernández, an unheralded free-agent signing for a team no one expected much of this season.
Hernández’s versatility and steady contributions from start to finish this year more than justified president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom’s investment in him, no more than now.
With the Red Sox now improbably four games away from competing for another World Series title after knocking off the AL East Champion Tampa Bay Rays, one of the best teams in baseball, perhaps it’s time to admit something else when it comes to this year’s team:
Bloom got it right a lot this year.