It took some time, but Josh Beckett has it all figured out.

First, the topic of life after his current contract (which runs through the 2014 season):

"I'll probably go year to year, because I don't want to be in any obligations," he said.

Then, a guess as to how long those one-year deals might stretch:

"I would like to play until I'm 37, maybe 38," the 31-year-old pitcher said.

And, finally, what will happen when that day comes.

"There isn't going to be any me waving to anybody. When I'm gone, I'm going to disappear," Beckett insisted. "There isn't going to be anything where this is my last year and I'm getting the fanfare. This is what's going to happen: Everybody is going to show up to spring training, and somebody's going to say, 'Where's Josh?' Then one of my teammates that I've already told this to will say, 'That [expletive] is probably already retired.' They're not even going to know. They'll call me and I'll say, 'Yeah, I'm sitting in Cabo.' "

Beckett is becoming more and more secure in such a scenario, in part because he has already started down the second phase of his professional and personal life. It started on Valentine's Day in 2010 when he proposed to Holly Fisher, a longtime friend from his hometown of Spring, Texas, continued a year later when the couple was named husband and wife, and gained unstoppable momentum when the Becketts learned they were expecting a baby daughter.

Now, just 24 days from Holly's due date, Beckett has made it clear -- after assessing his existence -- that his priorities are dramatically different.

"Baseball isn't my No. 1 priority anymore," he said. "Everybody goes through that change. Some people might go through that change before that even happens, but I definitely find myself thinking about [Holly and the baby] whereas a lot of times I used to be thinking about how I was going to get this guy out, or what I needed to do that day. They're my central focus."

According to Beckett, it has been a metamorphosis that actually just recently took root. 

"Maybe a couple of months into the pregnancy, it started to become real," he explained. "When you first find out you're pregnant, there are a lot of different emotions, but it's not quite real yet. But then you get a couple of months in and you go to the doctor's appointment once a month, check in on the baby, do that first ultrasound, and it becomes real then. You realize that person is going to completely depend on me and it literally wouldn't live without us. It's something I'm really looking forward to. Since the time I've wanted it, I've wanted it bad."

It's hard to say that the alteration of the pitcher's priorities is the reason for Beckett turning in one of his best seasons. After 25 starts he is 11-5 with a 2.43 ERA, having pitched 163 innings and allowed opponents a .201 batting average.

He did, after all, go down to the wire in the '07 Cy Young showdown, having gone 16-6 with a  3.29 ERA in 166 2/3 innings in his first 25 starts last season. And that was as a single man, still not contemplating life as a married man and father. 

But there has been a difference this time around, and it has little to do with miles per hour taken off his changeup, improved health or a two-seamer that has found the catcher's target more times than not. It is, according to Beckett, a change that can be largely credited to his new bride.

"A couple of years ago is when I kind of started thinking I have to find something," he said. "Not that I was looking, but it was kind of time for that next part. The whole women thing kind of changes when you're in Boston, anyway. You can't just be yourself. I always knew it was probably going to be somebody from Texas. I just hadn't hung out with her yet."

Now, when mapping out the aforementioned future, it is Holly and the couple's unborn daughter that will be leading Beckett down the path he has predicted.

"I think about it all the time," he said of his future. "Obviously I have three more years of obligation here and at that point my family is going to be even more important because I'm going to have a 3-year-old daughter and possibly another one on the way, or have one here. I don't think I even get to make that decision. That's going to be something where Holly and I sit down and almost do a Venn diagram of pros and cons. Can we get a job closer to home? Do we want to play in Boston still? Do we want to go out to the West Coast and be in the nice weather? We have to figure that out, and that's not even going to be my decision. We'll figure all that out."

The next month promises to be the most memorable of Beckett's career, and maybe his life. The Red Sox will assuredly be heading into the postseason, with the young family expecting its first child just a week before the playoffs begin. But instead of viewing the wave of activity as potentially daunting, the pitcher predicts it all couldn't be coming at a better time.

"I think once October comes you're doing whatever you can to win," he said. "I'm going to do whatever I can in October to win. There are no numbers, no nothing like that in the playoffs. Do whatever I can to help this team win in the playoffs. In the playoffs you do everything a little bit differently. You're not doing a million different things, but it's win or you don't win. And with the baby coming it's just going to tighten me down even more. I'm going to be at home with the newborn or at the field trying to win. I really don't think it's going to be a problem."

So far, it has been anything but.