Rise in fall

Focused on thriving when the leaves turn, Sox leave no stone unturned

Jason Bay, who'd spent the previous five seasons in Pittsburgh, where baseball essentially ends in June, had never seen this odd September ritual. Yards of plastic sheeting covering the clubhouse cubicles. Exuberant teammates giving each other champagne shampoos. The manager standing at his doorway, puffing on a celebratory cigar. "I'm a first-timer, but it's something you can definitely get used to," concluded Boston's new left fielder, who arrived when Manny Ramírez departed for the Dodgers' Elysian premises at the end of July. "It's just fun to act like kids again."

By now, the Red Sox have become used to playing in their backyard as the leaves are turning, just as the Yankees have done for decades and the Braves did until recently. Tonight, after reaching the playoffs for a franchise-record fifth time in six years, Boston will begin its defense of the world crown with the divisional series against the Angels. While history says the Sox will fall short - no champion except the Yankees has repeated in the last 15 years - what's important to their ownership and fans is that they're still playing.

That is management's stated mission, the endgame of what club president Larry Lucchino calls "the constant, unwavering commitment to winning." The town team wants a Soxtober every year. The trick is to create a club that can get there, season after season, as the Yankees did 29 times between 1921 and 1964 and as the Braves did with an unprecedented 14 straight division titles between 1991 and 2005.

"The reality is that October is an eight-team tournament that can be won by any of those teams," says general manager Theo Epstein. "What you try to do is build the best team that you can to participate in the tournament. You're building a team for the meritocracy of a 162-game season."

That means taking the long view in order to be able to take the short view. Scouting, drafting, and developing young players to continually refresh the roster. Re-signing some veterans (Mike Lowell) while letting others (Pedro Martínez) go. Spending big dollars during the winter for the right free agent. Then, as the season progresses, making the occasional blockbuster trade (Nomar Garciaparra) or the smaller one (Dave Roberts) to fill a crucial need, calling up minor leaguers as they're ready and building experience and depth.

"We look more than anything else to create redundancy because the quickest way to sink a team, whether it's over 162 games or in October, is injuries and attrition," says Epstein. "If you can create depth and redundancy through a strong organization and a complementary move here or there, then you're better off for it. The more interchangeable parts, the better."

If Lowell injures a hip, Kevin Youkilis can fill in at third base. Jed Lowrie has played every infield position except first base this year, Alex Cora has filled in at second and shortstop and seven men have started in left field. Almost always, the mixing and matching was done simply to get through that night's ballgame. But winning on a Thursday night in May or a Sunday afternoon in July is what gets you into autumn. "You keep October in mind," says Epstein, "but if you focus on it too much, you might never get there."

Now, then later

The Braves got there year after year by methodically piling one victory atop of another. "Bobby Cox's approach was, win this game so we can win this series so we can have a winning week, et cetera and et cetera and et cetera," says Atlanta president John Schuerholz, who was GM during the franchise's extraordinary run, which produced five National League pennants and one Series crown. "As long as you're keeping your eye on the most important ball of all, which is getting into the playoffs."

That rarely was an issue for the Yankees during their dynasty days. Eighteen times, they won the league by eight or more games and nine of those times by 12 games or more. That provided their managers with the luxury of giving their starters ample rest and setting up their Series rotation exactly as they wanted. "With the Yankees, everything is always geared to October," said Lee Mazzilli, who spent four years in the Bronx as a coach.

Most contenders, who usually are up or down by a couple of games during the final month, can't afford to look that far ahead. "It's a one-game-at-a-time-situation," said Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon, whose club lost five games off its lead in little more than a week last month before clinching the AL East. "I'm just trying to win tonight's game and then get ready to win tomorrow's game."

Over the last 13 years the Red Sox have won the AL East outright only once, so they've rarely had the luxury of thinking about the autumn during the summer. "The message that we send to our players is, stay in the present," says manager Terry Francona. "We try to prepare for the team we're playing and make that a priority, and then when they leave, move on and make the next team a priority. That's how we do it."

Still, the Sox always have an eye on the road ahead, especially when it comes to their pitching staff. "We've got our rotation mapped out through the entire month of September," says pitching coach John Farrell. "You're always working six weeks ahead of time for your planning."

So is the front office, which begins scouting potential playoff opponents at the beginning of September, as most contenders do. "As soon as you legitimately believe you have a real chance," says Schuerholz. "What you don't ever want to do is come up short. You want to err on the side of extraordinary preparation."

The Sox began checking out likely rivals a month ago, matching their top scouts with teams that would be the best fit and sending them out in pairs, as well as doing extensive video work on Yawkey Way. This week, Francona and his players were fully briefed on the Angels, which is when they had to be. Their job was to make sure they were still playing after Sept. 28. "We'll be ready when it's our time," said second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

The most important task is to make sure that your time comes. "The first thing you need to do is get in," says former Oakland manager Ken Macha, whose club went down to the final week with the Angels three times between 2003 and 2006.

Rewards can be risky

Obviously, everyone would like to win the division, both for the home-field advantage that goes to the teams with the two best records and for the right to run a banner up the flagpole. "It's a matter of pride," says Maddon, whose Rays never even had a winning record until this year. "We want to put up that flag that says AL East Champions. This isn't the Patriot League."

But winning the division can be a Pyrrhic victory if it wears out your pitching staff and drains everybody dry. "Even in spring training if you're playing, you want to win," says Francona. "But common sense comes in."

The combination of the standings, the calendar, and the magic number usually dictates whether a club that's already clinched a playoff berth cranks up for a final charge for the title or starts preparing for the divisional series.

"You do a cost/benefit analysis," says Epstein. "If your goal is winning the division, how realistic is it? If the magic number is 1 with a week to go for the other team, you're probably better off focusing exclusively on the postseason. If you're tied for the division and there's a legitimate reward, such as a better matchup, then you set up your resources differently. I tend to emphasize preparation for October, trying to get our players healthy and rested without sacrificing much, if anything."

Being out of the title chase can be a boon if it happens early enough, as it did for the Sox in 2004 when they finished three games behind the Yankees. "Once we were eliminated from the East, we had the ability to back up the last four or five games of the year and arrange our staff," says Francona. "In 2005, we didn't have that luxury and it probably hurt us in the playoffs."

That year the Sox were in the division race with New York until the penultimate game of the season, and didn't earn the wild card over Cleveland until the final day. So Matt Clement started the playoff opener, gave up five first-inning runs to the White Sox in a 14-2 loss, and Boston ended up being swept in three.

This year, after clinching a playoff spot on Tuesday of the final week, the Sox still had a small chance of catching the Rays, who were up by three games with five to play. So they went with their normal lineup for the Cleveland series, while being prudent about it. "We're not going to lose sight of the big picture," vowed Francona.

When his club was eliminated from the division race in Friday's sodden loss to New York and was washed out on Saturday, Francona used his usual lineup for Sunday's first game to give his regulars some final work before the playoffs, then plugged in bench players and call-ups for the finale. By then, preparations were well underway for facing the Angels, while the Rays still weren't sure whether they'd be playing the Twins or White Sox. "Jockeying for position over who you're going to play," observes Macha, "is not as important as having guys healthy and ready to play."

Two years ago the Athletics didn't know whether they'd face the Twins or the Tigers until the final day of the season. "We were packed for both cities," Macha recalls. Their preference was Detroit, which had been collapsing, over surging Minnesota. The Athletics got the Twins and swept them, then were swept by the Tigers in the ALCS. "History has shown that once you get in, anything can happen," says Farrell.

The coolest month

A day of rain, a 14-inning game, a sore shoulder can change everything. Boston made it to the 2004 Series because knuckleballer Tim Wakefield ("I always have my spikes on.") volunteered to eat innings in the middle of a 19-8 loss to the Yankees and saved the bullpen for another day and because Dave Roberts, who was acquired from the Dodgers because the front office thought he might steal a base at a vital time, swiped second when the Sox were on the verge of extinction.

Nobody knows what will happen in October. In 1960, the Yankees beat the Pirates, 16-3, 10-0, and 12-0 and lost the Series when Ralph Terry served up a high fastball to the No. 8 hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning of the seventh game. Balls roll through legs, banjo hitters find the cheap seats, journeyman pinch hitters (like you, Bobby Kielty) win a ring with their only swing of the bat.

What matters is getting there, which was a rarity in this town during the previous century. After making it to the postseason four times between 1912 and 1918, Babe Ruth's successors didn't get there again until 1946, or again until 1967, when it took an impossible dream. Now, the month between September and November has become Soxtober, whether it brings a trick or a treat.

"It's a nice moment in time right now," muses Epstein. "If you look back over the last five or six years, I don't think we would trade our experience with anyone else in baseball. And looking forward to the next five or six years, we're really happy with what's coming - and we're not looking to trade that with anybody, either."

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.