Green: Sox, Rocks are a study

One of the joys of being a baseball fan is making comparisons — between players, ballparks, payrolls, whathaveyou. So, it’s tempting to compare Colorado and Boston, the Rox and the Sox, David and Goliath.

And make no mistake. The Red Sox are Goliath this time. The folks in Las Vegas have picked the Sox as the favorites 2-1, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. After all, baseball is all about staying loose (or hasn’t Manny convinced you yet?), and the Red Sox now have to contend with the added pressure of being the favorites. Much has been made of Boston’s payroll, which exceeds Colorado’s by $88.6 million, enough to field any one of half the teams in baseball.

You can try to compare these teams, but beyond generalities, comparison can’t take you very far. Boston has good defense, but Colorado’s defense just posted the best fielding percentage in the history of Major League Baseball. And Colorado will need every ounce of good fielding they can get because while their offense has been effective, Boston’s has been explosive. As for pitching, it’s a wash — Boston’s staff looks better on paper, but Colorado’s has been freakishly consistent in getting the job done.

But the fact is the Rockies play in an easier league. Look at their team batting averages over the course of the regular season: the Rockies hit .280, while the Red Sox were .279. While Colorado’s performance in that category was enough to rank them first in the NL, Boston’s nearly identical performance was only good for fifth place in the AL.

 Then there’s the DH issue: in Boston, the Rockies will just rejoice that their pitcher doesn’t have to hit. In Colorado, Terry Francona will have to figure out how to use both David Ortiz (12 hits, three homers, six RBI, 12 walks this postseason) and Kevin Youkilis (17 hits, four homers, nine RBI, six walks) without sacrificing defense, which, in Coors, could be pivotal.

Even their ballparks are a study in contrasts: spacious, mile-high Coors Field and cozy, swampy Fenway Park. If there’s one thing they have in common, it’s that each stadium can have an outsize impact on the game being played within its confines. How do you compare teams built for such different locales?

Nonetheless, the joys of informed comparison has been denied me, at least I can still revel in one of sport’s other delights: that of making wild predictions. The Rockies have been living an October fairy tale. So, it’s too bad they won’t be getting their happily ever after. Sure, it’s a bit disorienting for this Sox fan to feel like the wicked stepmother. But if some bigger, richer, American League team has to crush their sweet, expansion-team dreams, at least it’s our team doing the crushing.

Sarah Green is a freelance writer who can be reached at sgreen@gmail.com.