Although the start of college football and the National Football League are at the center of the sports conversation, Major League Baseball is in the midst of a pennant race and keeping people engaged with the action. The Wild Card race seems to be coming down to the wire in the National League, while the American League is more or less decided outside of the A.L. West division. The Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros enter Wednesday in a three-way tie for first place with postseason implications looming over every remaining contest.
As for the Boston Red Sox, the team is currently in fourth place in the American League East but just six-and-a-half games out of the third Wild Card spot. The Red Sox have remained part of the sports conversation, especially in the Boston marketplace, but they were in the news for the wrong reasons on Monday night. Houston defeated the Red Sox 13-5 after long reliever Kyle Barraclough was left in the game despite struggling on the mound, ending his night with 10 earned runs on 11 hits and five walks. The entire ordeal left DraftKings content creator Jared Carrabis in a state of shock, validated by NESN play-by-play announcer Dave O’Brien.
“Once you get OB on the broadcast saying, ‘What’s going on here? Why is no one warming up in the bullpen?,’ that’s when I think the panic starts to set in,” Carrabis, an ardent fan of the Red Sox, said on Toucher & Rich Wednesday morning on 98.5 The Sports Hub. “As a fan, you’re sitting there watching the game and of course you have your thoughts…. Once you have broadcasters validating your maniacal thoughts, that’s when everyone’s like, ‘Wait, what actually is going on here?’”
When it comes to the Red Sox, having commentators affirm that they are perplexed by decisions being made by the team is of grave concern to Carrabis. He even turned on the Astros’ broadcast and quickly discerned that the commentators were questioning what the Red Sox were doing.
The contest is being referred to as the “Kyle Barraclough Game” and is regarded as one of the nadirs of this temperamental Red Sox team. Morning co-host Rich Shertenlieb was on hand at Fenway Park to watch the game and remembers thinking that the team simply forfeited from the competition altogether. Following another Red Sox loss on Tuesday night, sports anchor Jon Wallach asked Carrabis to come on the program to talk about the team.
Once Carrabis agreed to the appearance, Wallach asked if he would be willing to come on at 6:15 a.m. Carrabis is not up at that time, affirming that his normal working hours are from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. EST seven days a week. The program eventually landed an interview with him at 9 a.m., which started with Carrabis expressing his shock at being asked to come on at daybreak.
“I want to tell you a little industry secret, or at least a Toucher & Rich secret,” Shertenlieb said to Carrabis. “We always throw out the 7:00 hour first knowing that we’re going to get shot down. That’s like the hook, ‘Please say yes; please say yes,’ because no one’s ever up but if they are, great, we’re covered.”
