Week 17: Still Tied for First

The Bulls had a shot at breaking out last week. Instead, they went 3-3 with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (the Phillies franchise) and they are now in a three-way tie with the Jumbo Shrimp and the IronPigs. Standings. That's sort of the tale of this part of the season. Six teams are very much in the running, with Worcester, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and Buffalo only a couple of games back.

No obvious trends are coming out of the larger measures: Team OPS, ERA, and WHIP  barely moved. Individual moments have counted, such as rehabbing Jon Chargois' blow-up in relief on Sunday —  0 outs, 2 hits, 1 BB, 4 runs. Or phenom Taj Bradley's ugly start in Saturday's loss — 2 innings, 6 hits, 2 BB, 3 earned runs. More than that, Tampa Bay has announced 8 transactions in the last two days and there are likely more coming. Many of them will probably have an effect on the Bulls. The team that comes back to town next week could look very different from the team that is playing in Massachusetts tonight.

Matchup

The Worcester Red Sox are the re-incarnation of the Pawtucket Red Sox, a frequent and well-liked opponent of the Durham Bulls over the years. They are the AAA franchise of the Boston Red Sox. The WooSox are drawing plenty of fans—362,495 this year—to their new home. 

Meanwhile, we don't see any significant gaps in the overall matchup between the teams. This week is the only time the two teams will meet in 2022.