After Shocking End to Season, Red Sox Face Uncertain Future

That wasn't how it was supposed to end.

With Jonathan Papelbon, the man who had perfected postseason baseball, on the mound, the Red Sox had all but guaranteed that they'd be playing another day.

Then disaster struck. Over and over again.

"When you think about it, this guy had not allowed an earned run in his postseason career, comes up and gives up a two-run hit in the eighth, three more runs in the ninth after two outs and nobody on," Tony Massarotti told NESN's Heidi Watney after the game. "If you're the Red Sox, that's the situation you wanted in this game. You wanted the game in the hands of your bullpen, and it blew up on them."

That it did, and as unfortunate as it may seem, there's nothing else to do now but think about next year. That, though, is no easy task.

"The pitching staff, on the whole, is in pretty good shape. Most of those guys are coming back or the Red Sox have control over all of them," Massarotti said. "But when you talk about the positional guys -- [Jason] Bay, obviously he's going to hit the market now. That can be unpredictable. [David] Ortiz is going to be a year older in the final year of a contract, [Mike] Lowell's going to be a year older in the final year of his contract.

"There are serious questions to me now about this team's ability to score runs, on the road especially. ... I think you're going to get more of that next year."

The Red Sox -- and the fans -- likely won't have the patience for that.

"There's not a lot coming in the way of help in the minor league system, the free-agent market looks a little thin," Massarotti said. "I think they're going to have to make a big trade.

"What that is, who knows? I'm not even sure we know who's available yet."

One thing's for sure -- everyone has a long, cold winter to figure it all out.

Watch the complete postgame reaction below.