Red Sox Face Defining Stretch After Fireworks against Nationals: It’s Now or Never in Playoff Push
By: Chris Felico
With a 44-45 record and sitting in fourth place in the AL East, the Boston Red Sox find themselves at a familiar crossroads. Six and a half games behind the division-leading Blue Jays (50-38), and trailing both the Yankees and Rays by 4.5 games, it’s clear that the margin for error is razor thin. But the opportunity is just as real.
The Red Sox are only 2.5 games back of the third AL Wild Card spot currently held by the Mariners (46-42). And with a well-timed surge, Boston could turn the tide of a rollercoaster season before the All-Star break.
That shift may already be starting.
On the 4th of July, the Red Sox lit up our Nation’s Capital and the Nationals with an emphatic 11-2 win. Meanwhile, the Yankees fell to the Mets, the Rays were walked off by the Twins, and the Angels — who had been ahead of Boston in the Wild Card race — dropped a tough one in extras to the Blue Jays, who are beginning to look like the clear division favorites.
But here’s where it gets interesting.
The Sox now face two more games against a struggling Nationals squad, followed by three against the historically bad Colorado Rockies. That’s five winnable games out of the next eight. And while the Sox play the bottom feeders, the rest of the Wild Card field will be tested. The Rays will take on the AL-leading Tigers. The Yankees will battle the Mariners — a team ahead of the Sox in the Wild Card standings. And the Blue Jays? They’ll have a chance to run up the score against the hapless White Sox and A’s.
The real pivot point comes with the four-game set against Tampa Bay to close the first half. If the Sox can take care of business — 8-1 or even 7-2 over these next nine — while a few rivals stumble, Boston could enter the break not only holding a Wild Card spot, but possibly sitting in the top two. That would set the stage for something this fanbase hasn't seen since 2021: October baseball.
But that means ownership and the front office have to keep their word.
Earlier this season, the mandate was made clear: win now — and as recent as last week the mandate was spend (if necessary). The team needs reinforcements. The bullpen needs another arm. Another legitimate arm for the starting rotation never killed anyone. The lineup could use a spark. If this stretch proves that the Sox belong in the hunt, the front office must act like it. Not just with talk, but with trades.
It starts this afternoon on July 5th. Eight games. One playoff push. The season is on the line — and for the Red Sox, it’s go time.
Does anyone truly think this is a playoff contending team? I don’t just mean making the playoffs. But a team that can win in the playoffs even if we don’t feel they’re a team that can win the WS.
If the answer is no. They’re not a playoff contending team then the worst thing that can happen is they do well in this next stretch. If they make the playoffs, it will be by luck. But ownership and the FO will take it as validation. And we won’t have the changes we need in the offseason.
This is indeed a defining stretch. The Red Sox playing well between now and the All Star Break— and even further between now and the August 1st break will almost certainly cause ripple effects that negatively impact the organization for the next half a decade at least.