I have waited a couple of days to put down my thoughts on the demise of the 2016 Boston Red Sox … but after waiting a couple of days I’m still not quite sure what to say.

Was the ending to this season disappointing … almost to the point of being depressing? Did it leave you wondering how a team could roll through much of September on an 11 game winning streak and then win just one of their last nine games? Yup, me too.

Do you want someone to blame? Does John Farrell seem like the logical candidate? On first glance, yes, I guess he does.

But I am not going to go that route. If you are going to blame Farrell for the end then you also must give him credit for the 11 game run that got them to where they ended up … which in case you have forgotten was American League East Champs. No, I have no problem with Dave Dombrowski’s decision to bring Farrell back for next season.

So what about the way things ended? Did they peak too soon? No, I prefer to think of it as reaching their goal too soon.  All year long they battled with one goal … to win the AL East. When they finally did they took their foot off the gas.  I’m sure they did it unconsciously … may be for just a few minutes of hours …. but the car stalled.  And no one could get it running again.

There is the theory out there (Call it the Healey Philosophy) that if you don’t win it all then the season is a total loss. I respectfully disagree. There was so much good that came out of 2016 for the Sox. From the rise of Mookie Betts and Xander Boegarts to the resurrection of Hanley Ramirez, to the Cy Young quality season of Rick Porcello the feel good stories were there all summer long. Then you throw in Big Papi’s overwhelming farewell and it was just a lot of fun from start to … …

Well maybe it wasn’t fun all the way to the finish … but it was still well worth the ride.