Gary DiSarcina saw this coming.

Last year, as the bench coach of the Boston Red Sox, he had a front-row seat as the team won its second straight American League East title – a first for the franchise. But the Red Sox were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round for the second straight year, and DiSarcina was part of John Farrell’s staff left looking for a new job.

He found one, and was back at Fenway Park over the weekend as bench coach of the New York Mets. And he’s not at all surprised to see the Red Sox closing in on history with 103 wins.

“To come back and see these guys perform and play – (Xander) Bogaerts, Mookie (Betts), Benny (Andrew Benintendi), (Rafael) Devers – it’s a good feeling knowing how well they’re doing,” DiSarcina said. “You look up on the board and there’s (103) wins, and that doesn’t happen much. It’s a credit to Alex (Cora) and his staff and the way the players are performing.”

DiSarcina knows more than most about the pressure awaiting the Sox in October. After two straight early October exits, the 2018 team has put even more pressure because of its success. Being the greatest regular-season team in franchise history only means the expectations for postseason success have risen.

He’s not worried about their ability to handle things next month.

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“No doubt they’ll have the pressure,” said DiSarcina, “but they’ve got such a veteran presence over there with their starting pitching with David (Price), Rick (Porcello) and Chris (Sale). They’ve been there and done that. If they keep doing their business the way they did it in the regular season – not changing anything – they’ll be fine.

“We felt it last year, but we were going up against a really hot team (the Houston Astros). That’s the crazy thing about the season they’re having. I think back to (the 2001) Seattle Mariners. I think they won 116 one year and they got bounced really early because they were playing the New York Yankees. The Yankees were really hot, and they got them in a short series.”

It’s the kind of cautionary tale we’ve been thinking about as the Red Sox piled up wins. The kind of tale Sox players haven’t been able to get away from. On Wednesday, the Sox beat Toronto 1-0 for their 100th win, becoming just the fourth team in franchise history to reach that milestone. J.D. Martinez met with the media after the game, and intrepid Boston reporter Johnny Miller wasn’t about to shower the Red Sox with compliments.

“Will this season be a complete disappointment if you don’t win the World Series?” Miller asked.

Martinez gave the appropriate answer after a double take. He’s been here long enough to expect questions like that, even in the best of times. He also knows that all the regular-season wins in the world won’t make up for October struggles.

The arrival of Martinez is the biggest difference from 2017 to now. He’s a Triple Crown threat and brings a presence to the lineup that the Sox haven’t had since David Ortiz retired.

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Yet even Big Papi’s presence wasn’t enough for the Sox to beat the Indians in 2016. They lost three straight, and are 1-6 in the last two postseasons.

One difference between those teams and this one is that the Red Sox will open up the playoffs at home. They were the road team to begin each of those two seasons and were down 0-2 upon returning to Fenway each time. This team’s offense has the most runs scored and highest batting average at home in the majors.

There will be pressure for sure, and it will be ratcheted up if it’s the Yankees coming to Boston for the ALDS. The Sox are in New York this week looking to clinch their third straight division title. Once they clear that hurdle they can begin thinking about playoff rosters and what will give them their best shot at October success.

Winning in the regular season is important, because you need to make the postseason to win it all. But it’s not enough. Just ask the coaches from last year’s team, who raised an AL East banner and found themselves out of work just a few weeks later.

Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.


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