The 2025 Red Sox: From the Brink to the Doorstep of October
By: Chris Felico
The 2025 Boston Red Sox looked all but dead in the water just a week ago. Entering the final six games of the regular season, they clung to a razor-thin one-game lead in the Wild Card race over both the Astros and Guardians. The Mariners and Tigers, meanwhile, held slight division edges, and Detroit loomed especially large—owning the tiebreaker against Boston should it come down to the third and final Wild Card slot.
The math was daunting, and the schedule even more so. The Red Sox had just stumbled through a 3-3 stretch, dropping two of three to the last-place A’s and only managing to take two of three against the Rays in a series they desperately needed to sweep. Worse yet, their season-ending matchup was circled in red ink: three games against the Tigers at Fenway Park, with Detroit’s ace Tarik Skubal lined up for a potential winner-take-all on the final day.
It felt like the Sox were walking into a gauntlet. And then, something shifted.
The Blue Jays Series: Hope Rekindled
Boston opened the crucial six-game stretch in Toronto, where they immediately seized momentum. The Red Sox took the first two games, putting themselves in prime position while both the Astros and Tigers collapsed in stunning fashion. Suddenly, the Sox had a chance to clinch as early as the series finale—a “win and in” opportunity.
But the champagne stayed on ice. Bryan Bello, tasked with the biggest start of his young career, couldn’t quite deliver. He danced out of early trouble, but faltered the third time through the order. Lasting just five innings, he left the bullpen in a bases-loaded jam that unraveled into a grand slam and six total runs surrendered. Boston’s offense couldn’t answer back, and the celebration had to wait.
Still, the Red Sox left Canada in control of their destiny, needing just one win in their final three games at Fenway against a Detroit club that had been stumbling down the stretch.
Cracks in the Armor
The Toronto series also raised fresh concerns about a staff that had been the team’s backbone all season. Giolito was bailed out by the offense in one start, while Bello was undone by both his own command and a shaky middle-relief corps. For a rotation that looked playoff-ready most of the year, the timing of this wobble is concerning.
Even Garrett Crochet, whose resurgence has steadied things somewhat, can’t mask the looming question: Who’s the reliable No. 2 in a three-game Wild Card series? If the Sox finish the job, they’ll have to answer that quickly.
A City on Edge, a Team Still Standing
Questions aside, there’s no denying the excitement. This is a Red Sox team that has battled through major injuries, unfathomable trades, inconsistency, and long stretches of doubt, yet here they are—one of three games from clinching their first postseason berth since 2021.
The math is simple now. Win one against Detroit, and Fenway Park gets its long-awaited champagne shower. Win two or three, and Boston enters October with momentum. Lose them all, and the ghosts of squandered opportunities could haunt the winter.
But right now, Boston fans aren’t worried about rotations or matchups. They’re focused on the moment. After nearly half a decade of waiting—nearly a full decade if you discount the magical but fleeting 2021 run—the Red Sox are on the verge of October again.
And with that, how can you not be romantic about baseball in Boston?