McAdam: Ready or not, here come the Yankees

For months, Red Sox fans bemoaned that the Yankees hadn't yet visited Fenway Park this season.

The first two series of the year between the rivals took place in the Bronx, with the Yanks taking four out of five (another game was washed out). Then, when the Sox were finally designated as the home team, the games were played in London. And we know how that turned out: the Yankees clubbed the ball all over MLB's makeshift stadium, scoring 29 runs in the two-game sweep.

On Thursday, as the Red Sox return home following a six-game road trip, the Yankees belatedly come to Boston.

Talk about bad timing.

First, the division race is effectively over, with Sox trailing the first-place Yankees by 10.5 games with 59 games left. Technically, that lead isn't insurmountable; rationally, it's virtually impossible to foresee the Red Sox making up that much ground in just over two months.

(If they have a shot at all, they need to put a serious dent in the Yankees over 12 days, when they will play them eight times. If the Sox could somehow find a way to win, let's say, six of those, shaving four games off the Yankees' lead, it might make things mildly interesting. But again, that's a longshot).

And that gets to the Red Sox' biggest problem. Given the clustered wild card picture, every win is critical, and that goes double for the Sox, who, in addition to needing to make up games in the standings, have the dual purpose of having to win to convince their front office and ownership that they're worth investing in at the trade deadline.

Any decision on which way the team goes will likely get made Monday -- after the four-game set with the Yankees is over, and two days before the July 31 deadline. The elimination of the August waiver trading period gives more of a sense of finality to this: unlike in past years, there will be no more maneuvering in August if teams don't address all of their roster needs.

For the first time, it's trade now ... or forever hold your peace.

In reality, there's a third element to this four-game set with the Yankees and that's the opportunity for these Red Sox to demonstrate that, should they meet again in October, they stand a chance of knocking the Yankees off.

Currently, that's hard to imagine. Not only do the Yankees hold a double-digit lead in the East, but they've also taken six of the first seven head-to-head meetings.

As has been noted before, the Red Sox could easily -- with or without roster reinforcements -- qualify as one of the wild card entrants. Do the Texas Rangers or Oakland A's scare you? Or the Rays, from whom the Sox just took two-of-three?

Only the Cleveland Indians appear formidable, but they could be sellers next week and dismantle their team by dealing off Trevor Bauer.

And should the Red Sox get to the wild card game, they have a 50-50 chance to moving on. At that point, they'd be on equal footing with the three division leaders -- excepting home-field advantage. They'd need just seven wins to get back to the World Series and defend their title.

But the Sox have already lost four-of-six to Houston and six-of-seven to the Yankees. They would almost certainly draw one of those teams in the Division Series. How confident would you be about their chances in a short series? Not very, I'm guessing, and for good reason.

For now, the Yankees and Astros operate at another level, occupying the rarefied air of baseball's elite, a space shared with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who might threaten to match the Sox' 108-win total from a year ago.

So this is, in many ways, the Red Sox' last stand.

Over the next four days, the Red Sox can stay in the middle of the wild card race. If they can take three-of-four from New York, they'll probably convince Dave Dombrowski to buy some bullpen help before next Wednesday at 4 p.m.

And they can make their own statement -- to themselves and to the rest of baseball -- that they'll be a formidable entry on the October stage, that they mean business and aren't just showing up as bit players at everybody else's postseason party.

They have their shot at the Yankees now — four this weekend and four next. It's time to put up or shut up.

Alex Cora has said it repeatedly. The players have echoed it, in some variation or another: We're better than we've shown. We have plenty of talent.

For a multitude of reasons, it's time to show it.