Three games. Three deficits. Three wins.
Boston came home needing a reset and swept San Francisco at Fenway in three straight comeback wins, capped by Sunday’s 5-4 rally from a 3-0 hole. Jake Bennett took his lumps early, then settled in and gave Boston seven innings. Nick Sogard homered. The bullpen handled the rest.
It’s late August in New England. Dunkin already has pumpkin back on the menu, every grocery store has apparently decided it’s October, and the Red Sox are finally playing games that feel like they belong there.
Boston is 71-59, holding the second Wild Card spot, 6.5 games clear of the cutoff line, three behind the Yankees and six behind Tampa Bay. That’s not scraping-in territory anymore. That’s a real playoff position.
Getting here required a heater.
What comes next requires consistency.
The offense can bury teams. A three-run deficit at Fenway doesn’t feel like a death sentence anymore. And the numbers suggest this is more than a two-month fever dream.
The Red Sox have a plus-99 run differential, second-best in the American League and one run behind the Yankees. Division-leading Tampa Bay sits at plus-44. Boston is also 29-20 against teams .500 or better.
Since June 25, the Red Sox are 39-13. They went from 32-46 and 15 games out of first to one of the best teams in baseball.
We know they can get hot.
The next five weeks are about proving they can stay good.
First, Miami
Before the fun starts, Boston has three games in Miami.
The Marlins are 67-64 and still hanging around the National League playoff picture, so this isn’t a free square.
Handle Miami. Then get to New York.
Because after that, the temperature changes.
Four games in three days at Yankee Stadium.
A Saturday doubleheader.
Three games separating the teams.
Boston holding a 5-4 season-series lead, with two wins enough to clinch the tiebreaker.
Late August. Boston. New York. A pennant race.
This is what you put up with 162 games for.
The Red Sox and Yankees currently project to meet in the Wild Card Series for the second straight year. This weekend could start deciding where that series gets played. Take two and Boston owns the tiebreaker. Take three or four and suddenly we can stop staring down at the Wild Card cutoff.
We can start looking up.
Reinforcements Are Coming
And the team arriving in New York might not be the same one leaving Miami.
Roman Anthony is getting close.
He went 3-for-11 with a double, a homer and two walks across four rehab games in Portland and moves to Worcester on Tuesday. A return during this road trip wouldn’t be surprising, with New York looking significantly more likely than Miami.
Roman Anthony returning at Yankee Stadium for the biggest series of the season?
Baseball has a sense of humor sometimes.
Trevor Story could be back soon too. He’s kind of the candy corn of the reinforcements. Fine. Useful. Just not the reason I’m excited for October.
Then there’s Garrett Crochet.
Crochet is throwing again and has made it clear that if he returns this season, it will be out of the bullpen. He estimated he could build up to around two innings at most.
That could be an October weapon.
And don’t forget Curtis Mead.
Boston traded Connelly Early for Mead because they needed a legitimate right-handed bat. Before the trade, he was hitting .254 with 17 homers and an .852 OPS in 87 games for Washington. Then, because apparently this season needed one more kick in the nuts, he fractured his wrist almost immediately after arriving. He’s getting another round of imaging today, which should give Boston a better idea whether a mid-to-late September return is realistic.
Boston spent the deadline adding to this roster. If Anthony, Story, Crochet and Mead make it back, Breslow could spend September pulling a few more additions out of the training room.
And Then There's Adley
Boston paid a massive price for Adley Rutschman, and his first few weeks have been quiet.
Fine. For now.
The Red Sox didn’t need Rutschman to be the guy this weekend. They swept San Francisco without him doing much of anything, and he didn’t even play Sunday.
They need him to be the guy down the stretch.
September. New York. Tampa Bay. October.
That’s why you make this trade. And if Rutschman is still this quiet a month from now, the conversation around what Boston gave up for him changes pretty quickly.
But if he starts looking like vintage Rutschman again, that’s one of the easiest ways this roster gets significantly better without adding another player.
The Stretch Starts Now
After New York, Boston gets Seattle, Baltimore, the Angels and Kansas City.
Then the schedule stiffens again.
Texas. Tampa Bay. Cleveland. The Cubs.
By then there won’t be much left to figure out.
Boston doesn’t need another miracle month. It doesn’t need to go 39-13 again. That run already proved this season is real.
Now get Anthony healthy. Get more from Rutschman. See whether Crochet can become a weapon. Beat the teams you should beat. Stand up to the ones you might see again in October.
We’ve seen what the Red Sox are capable of.
Now do it again.
And again.
And again.