Bodog Beat

David Ortiz looks to keep the Red Sox rolling in the ALCS tonight. (AP Images)

There might be more interest in the ALCS between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays than there will be in the World Series. Last year’s Red Sox-Indians ALCS was certainly more entertaining than watching Boston blow out Colorado in four straight games.

The Red Sox and Rays had a good battle for AL East supremacy, but the Rays found a way to stay on top of the Sox for most of the season, even with a smaller run differential of +103 to Boston’s mighty +151. To put that in terms of Pythagorean record, the Sox played as well as a 97-65 team compared to Tampa at 92-70.

Boston goes into Friday’s ALCS opener as a +105 road dog with a total of eight runs. The pitching matchup is fairly even with Daisuke Matsuzaka (2.90 ERA, 4.82 xFIP) and James Shields (3.56 ERA, 4.06 xFIP) on the mound.

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