Why is Everyone in a Rush to Define the Sox season?

It happened again.

“I think it’s pretty clear by now what they are.”

“They’re not a playoff team. It’s time to sell.”

“If only they were going to be in contention, maybe they could make a run at David Price.”

Why is everyone in such a rush to write them off?

They’ve been doing it all season. Have a rough opening week? A week of games is enough to be able to tell. A rough April? That’s a big enough sample size. They now are what they are.

This isn’t a new thing either. Remember the losing streak to start 2011? People were already deciding they were a bust after six games.

What is that desire?

Is it just the need for everyone to be first? If I’m the first one to say they’re going to be a crap team, and then they’re a crap team, then people will think I’m awesome. That might work if anyone remembered what anyone said. But, nobody’s going to go and give you credit for having a tweet in April saying “Sox are done this year” as some sort of clairvoyant. Heck, I wrote a whole blog post last spring saying, basically, that I saw no reason why the Sox wouldn’t win the World Series last year. Nobody’s brought it up since. So, this “me first” thing is just annoying with no purpose.

Is it contrary reporting? If I’m the only person who says the Sox will be lousy, people will read or follow me since I’m giving them something nobody else will. Like the one person who leaves Dustin Pedroia off the MVP ballot. Again, though, that assumes anyone remembers. Sure, someone might track down which one of 20 reporters did something. But, to scour twitter for someone saying bad things about the Sox? Not gonna happen. So, again, it’s jumping to conclusions with no purpose.

Is it straight trolling? Hoping that I’d write a blog post about it?

I’d understand if your early conclusion supported a pre-made assumption. If a team went 112-50 one year, and then started out 25-5, you would be allowed to jump to the conclusion that they’re going to have a good year. The evidence is supporting your assumption. But, that’s not what’s happening here. The Sox weren’t supposed to be sub-500. Sure, nobody expected 100 wins. But, they didn’t expect struggles. Why be so eager to change your mind? Was your opinion of the team going into the season so flawed that you’re willing to throw it away over nothing?

Maybe that’s the real reason. People aren’t making well thought out analysis. They’re just tossing out opinions, so they have no problem tossing out a different one. If you only thought they were going to win this year because they won the last game last year, it would be easy to say they’re going to lose this year because they lost the last game they played.

If, however, you thought they’d be good this year based on the players they had returning, and how they performed last year, you might be inclined to stick with that opinion. You’d assume that players will find their level. That slumps happen, but stars will be stars. There’d be no reason not to wait it out. As long as they’re still in contention.

At least until all the players you expected to be there are there.