The final four is set in the Major League Baseball postseason as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers meet in the National League Championship Series, while the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians get underway in the American League side of the bracket. As the Boston Red Sox watch the rest of the postseason from home, both the Guardians and Rays offer key lessons for the Red Sox brass as they look to make a deeper playoff run in 2027.

Much has been made about the Red Sox's reliance, or over-reliance, on analytics after manager Chad Tracy lifted both Payton Tolle in Game 1 and Sonny Gray in Game 2 of the Wild Card series after just 4.2 innings. However, if you were asked to name five of the most forward-thinking, analytically sound organizations in baseball, you would not have a complete list without including the Dodgers, Brewers, Rays, and Guardians. 

In addition to being the last four teams standing in 2026, the foursome also routinely sees year-over-year success, and that's no coincidence. However, these organizations have shown that analytics cannot be one-size-fits-all. The numbers can guide in-game decisions, but ultimately the eye test and judging the flow of the game still matter. 

The same goes for roster construction; you can lean into analytical philosophies, like the Red Sox do with air-pull percentage, bat speed, exit velocity, etc. However, you shouldn't use it as a rubber stamp for every hitter who enters your organization. As we've seen with players like Kristian Campbell or Caleb Durbin, it doesn't work for everyone. 

The Red Sox still have a lot of work to do in blending the incredibly useful information and guidance that analytics can provide with the game's old-school thought processes. 

The Red Sox, Guardians and Rays have similarly constructed rosters, not built to hit the ball out of the ballpark. That's partly why Cleveland and Tampa have failed to get over the hump in the postseason. 

Tampa finished the regular season top five in baseball in batting average (.258, T-1st) and on-base percentage (.326, T-5th). While finishing the year with the ninth-fewest home runs (169). However, they still finished the season with 736 runs scored, the 12th most in baseball and 47 more than Boston. 

They're successful because they deliver when it matters most, leading baseball with a .284 batting average with runners in scoring position. The same goes for Milwaukee, whose .276 batting average with runners in scoring position ranks second in the sport. 

While Cleveland's regular-season offensive production won't jump off the page, they've followed the same playbook in the postseason. The Guardians are hitting only .213 in the playoffs, but their .330 on-base percentage is the second-highest among all postseason teams. In the final three games of their comeback series victory over the Chicago White Sox, the Guardians capitalized on their opportunities, going 10-for-32 (.312) with runners in scoring position. 

Aside from the 32-5 stretch that ultimately propelled them into the postseason, the Red Sox struggled mightily to capitalize on their opportunities, hitting just .160 with runners in scoring position over the last month. Overall, Boston hitters posted a slash line of just .241/.318/.391/.709 with runners in scoring position, ranking in the bottom 10 in the sport across the board. 

If the Red Sox are going to continue to lean into a power-deficient lineup, they need to get much better at capitalizing on scoring chances. 

That said, both Cleveland and Tampa are powered by the game's two best third basemen, Jose Ramirez and Junior Caminero. Ramirez was the driving force in Cleveland's come-from-behind series win over the White Sox, hitting .278/.409/.778/1.187 with two home runs and seven RBI in the five-game series. The 34-year-old provided the final blow to the White Sox season: a two-run home run in Game 5. Caminero was a major factor in the Rays' Divisional Series sweep of the New York Yankees, hitting .300/.417/.400/.800, scoring two runs. 

The Red Sox have plenty of good players, but they lack the top-end talent needed for a deep playoff run. They were expecting Roman Anthony to become that guy in 2026, but they cannot make the same mistake in 2027. Stars shine the brightest in October, and the Red Sox have a serious lack of star power. 

The Guardians and Rays will kick off the American League Championship Series at 8:00 p.m. ET on Monday night.