Daily Red Sox Links: Chris Sale, Matt Barnes, Nick Yorke

As the Red Sox unfortunately found out the hard way on Thursday, the Rays are very good at baseball. Sean McAdam spoke to a veteran scout about the team and what makes them so good. (Sean McAdam; Boston Sports Journal)

Obviously before Thursday’s game the team had to announce their roster for the series. One of the big decisions that stood out was the one to leave Matt Barnes off the roster. (Jen McCaffrey; The Athletic)

The other one that surprised some people, including me, was putting Danny Santana on with a few of the bench players from the AL Wildcard Game roster left off. (Christopher Smith; Masslive)

Chris Sale has been given a fairly light schedule since coming back, largely because that’s just how things shook out, but also in part by choice from the team. Now he’s got to pitch the biggest game of the year. (Dan Shaughnessy; Boston Globe)

Sale, as you might expect, is more than ready to take the ball. (Bryan Hoch; MLB.com)

Weird how more people watch when the team is good. (Steve Hewitt; Boston Herald)

Sox Prospects continues their award week with comeback player of the year, among other honors. (Jim Crowell; Sox Prospects)