4 reasons why the Red Sox won the ALDS

The Red Sox clinched a trip to the ALCS last night, beating the Rays 3-1 in Game Four, and 3-1 in the series. They will face the winner of Detroit and Oakland, who play in Game Five tomorrow night. We'll deal with the ALCS when we get there (Games One and Two are Saturday and Sunday, respectively, at Fenway), but for now, here are four reasons why the Red Sox are in their first ALCS since 2008:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury and Shane Victorino have led off for the Red Sox for most of the 2013 season, and they lead off this list, as well. The pair was simply superb during this series, going a combined 15-of-32 (.469) with 9 runs and 5 stolen bases. They were the catalysts of many a Red Sox rally, and this was no more evident than near the end of Game Four. Ellsbury went from first to third after stealing and advancing on a wild pitch, and in the same at bat, Victorino plated Ellsbury on an infield single, using his speed to beat out a throw from Yunel Escobar.

2. In the rare instances that the Red Sox weren't getting production from these two, they were able to find it from any given player in the lineup. In the first game of the series, a 12-2 Boston victory, every batter in the lineup had a hit and scored a run, only the third time in history that the feat had been accomplished. Players had their clutch moments; the loudest was David Ortiz smacking two homers off David Price, the most recent being Xander Bogaerts' 7th-inning walk to set up the reversal of one-run leads.

3. The pitching staff as a cohesive unit was reliable for maybe the first time since 2007. Lester took the ball in Game One and delivered a stellar outing. John Lackey, while his start was mediocre at best, held the lead for the Red Sox against the Rays' best starter, David Price. Buchholz labored in his six innings, but his only mistake was the game-tying home run to Evan Longoria. And last night, Jake Peavy held the Rays to one run in 5.2 innings to set up the Breslow/Tazawa/Uehara bullpen pecking order.

4. The Red Sox caught breaks. The Wil Myers missed fly ball in Game One was a big one, but between all of the borderline calls, wild pitches, and key plays, the Red Sox were far ahead of Tampa Bay in all facets of intangibles. The baseball gods were good to the Red Sox in this series, which could come as a surprise given the fact that TBS could do nothing but talk about the Rays' elimination game success in the past week. However, the Red Sox were too much for Tampa to handle, and Boston will head back to the ALCS.