McAdam: On interleague play, the value of Brandon Workman and help on the horizon

It's two series down, one to go for the Red Sox on their eight-game (mostly) West Coast road swing, their final trip of more than two series this season.

Here are a few items:

1. Interleague play to the rescue

Since interleague play was introduced in 1997, the Red Sox have held the best winning percentage of any team in the game, winning almost 60 percent of their games against National League teams (250-168, .598).

Every year, the Sox have been able to almost count on winning double-digit games against National League teams. Last year, en route to their best record ever, the Sox were 16-4 against N.L. teams. The year before that? 16-4. The year before that? 14-6.

You get the picture.



In their last 61 games of interleague play, the Sox are 44-17, good for a .721 winning percentage. Since 2003, the Sox have a .651 winning percentage, far and away the best in the sport. (The Yankees are next closest, with a .594, 15 games behind the Sox).

But this season has been different. The Sox' first interleague series this year, in the midst of their train-wreck opening series of the season, saw them drop two-of-three to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Later, there was a split at home with Colorado (1-1), a home series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers (1-2) and more recently, they were swept at home by the Philadelphia Phillies (0-2).

All of which left the Sox with a highly uncharacteristic 4-7 interleague record.

But just in the nick of time, that turned around. The Sox began this road trip winning 2-of-3 in San Diego before sweeping a two-game set in Denver against the Rockies.

Those two series lifted the Red Sox to a 7-8 mark in interleague play this season. No matter what happens over the remaining two interleague series (two games in Philadelphia and a three-game set at Fenway with the San Francisco Giants), the Sox will finish with their worst interleague mark since 2014, when they were 9-11. (That season represented the only losing interleague record the Sox have had since 2002).

But if they can somehow pull off a climb in the standings and gain a wild card spot, they can thank interleague play for starting the turnaround.

2. Workman keys bullpen turnaround.

It didn't qualify as a white-knuckle save situation Wednesday night, what with the Sox leading by three runs in the bottom of the ninth. Still, Brandon Workman didn't mess around, striking out the side on 17 pitches.

This was hardly an aberration.

Since July 24, the Red Sox have the best bullpen ERA in baseball, and that period of domination dovetails perfectly with a great stretch by Workman.

Since then, Workman has pitched in 12 games, covering 12.1 innings. He's allowed just seven hits and three walks with 18 strikeouts in that span for a 1.46 ERA. Opposing hitters have slashed .167/.217/.214 against Workman.

Actually, that's about in keeping with the level of domination that Workman has achieved for much of the season. Fifty of his 60 appearances this season have been scoreless; in 26 of those appearances, he has now allowed a baserunner. That translates into 43 percent perfect innings, the third-best rate in the American League.

But beyond Workman's dominance, there's this: the late July run also approximately lines up with the time period at which the Sox -- quietly and without any fanfare -- made Workman the de facto closer, the guy to whom they would turn when they had a lead of three runs or fewer.

And while I was -- and remain -- a proponent of the bullpen-by-committee approach, in theory, it's clear that the Sox bullpen, and Workman in particular, benefited from the return to a more structured plan and clearer definition of roles.

3. Roster expansion will help.

Dave Dombrowski is on record as saying that MLB's current practice of allowing teams to add as many as 15 players to the active roster on Sept. 1 is a sham. Can't say that I disagree. It's ludicrous that some teams have, say, 35 available players for some games in September and others -- usually, small-market teams who don't want to add to the payroll or start service time clocks -- might only have 30.

It's patently absurd baseball allows games to be contested between teams with an unequal amount of players -- mercifully, that will end next year with a rule change that will allow 28 players (but no more) in September -- but for now, them's the rules.

And the Sox will benefit -- most obviously in the bullpen, where additional arms can help reduce the burden.

"We need reinforcements,'' said Alex Cora on Wednesday in Denver, "guys who can give us multiple innings or get specific guys out. It will be cool.''

Among the likely call-ups: Colten Brewer, Travis Lakins, Mike Shawaryn, Bobby Poyner, Hector Velazquez and Ryan Weber. None is likely to see high-leverage situations, but Weber and Velazquez are stretched out enough to provide several innings in games in which the Sox have either a big lead or big deficit.

Another area that can stand improvement: bench depth.

With just three bench players currently (four, if you count the second catcher), Cora's late inning flexibility has been limited, to the point where he's been forced into sending Chris Owings (1-for-16) to the plate in pinch-hit situations, just to offer a righthanded bat.

Soon, Cora will have Michael Chavis, Bryce Brentz, and, who knows, perhaps even Bobby Dalbec. The latter, while untested at the big league level, would be a nice late-inning bench option when the Sox need a home run.