It wasn't perfect.
There was the loss in Anaheim Thursday night at the hands of Shohei Ohtani, when the Sox could manage just two runs. And another Saturday night, eerily familiar, with a ninth-inning lead being frittered away by a suspect bullpen.
But all in all, it was about as close as any team can get traipsing up and down the West Coast for a week and a half. The Red Sox' 2-0 shutout of the Seattle Mariners on Sunday left the Sox with an 8-2 mark that qualified as the most successful West Coast trek since 1995, and represented their winningest trip anywhere since 2017.
As the Sox basked in their sixth shutout of the season, it was easy to forget how disastrous this trip could have been. Had the Sox returned home with a losing record on the trip, it might have stood as evidence that the Sox were not good enough to remain in contention for a playoff push. Their three-week turnaround that preceded the trip would have been for naught, and surely, upon returning home, the Sox would have been subjected to more talk that chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom could not, in good conscience, rule out a late July clearance sale.
You could almost imagine the signage on Jersey St: Everything must go...No reasonable offer refused.
Instead, the Red Sox rose to the occasion. They swept a makeshift Oakland team, capitalized on the fact that the Angels were collapsing and made sure they stayed there, then took two-of-three from a Seattle team that was starting to flex a bit after a sweep of Houston.
Sometimes, they simply pounded inferior opponents into submission, as when they won the first two from the A's by a combined score of 15-2. Sometimes they held on for dear life and exhibited a mental toughness that allowed them to win one-run games. And sometimes, they simply rode superior pitching and defense to low-scoring shutouts -- three times in the final seven games.
In other words, they won every which way, always a good indication of a quality team. And as distasteful as Saturday's loss was, the Red Sox showed some mental toughness by making sure that the defeat didn't linger. They haven't lost consecutive games in more than a month.
A cynic would point to the fact that all three West Coast opponents had losing records. But while the A's are tanking and offered little resistance, the Angels and Mariners are good enough to be in play for the final wild card in the American League. What's more, the Red Sox won the season series against both, no minor point should the final wild card spot come down to tie-breakers.
Another acknowledgment: For as well as the Red Sox played, they actually lost ground to the Yankees during the trip. With more than 100 games still remaining in the season, it may be time to give up on dreams of a division title. But a ticket to the postseason, even as a wild card entrant, is not to be sneered at. The Sox nearly rode theirs to the World Series last October.
Sunday's win wouldn't have been achieved without contributions from two players who weren't with the parent club as recently as Thursday. Outfielder Rob Refsnyder scored the first run of the game, on-base when Rafael Devers homered in the eighth, then, in the bottom of the inning, made what may well be the best outfield catch by anyone on the Sox this season -- no small feat for a team that regularly deploys the likes of KikΓ© Hernandez and Jackie Bradley Jr.
Meanwhile, Kutter Crawford stepped in and delivered five shutout innings -- about five hours after pitching coach Dave Bush sent him an early morning text message that he would, indeed, be starting the finale. Crawford issued four walks in his five innings of work, but three times, followed those passes with a strikeout, showing the ability to bail himself out of his own jams.
That depth pieces were so integral to Sunday's win was particularly encouraging, given that the next few weeks will see the Sox shorthanded. Already, Hernandez is on the IL with a hip issue, and in the last three days, the Sox have been forced to place 40 percent of its starting rotation on the IL. Garrett Whitlock (hip) and Nathan Eovaldi (lower back) are hobbled and will need to be replaced.
Presumably, Crawford's outing ensures that he will remain in the rotation, having earned his spot. But someone else -- Josh Winckowski? Bryan Mata? Connor Seabold? Brandon Walter? -- is going to have to contribute, too, in the coming week for the Sox to stay ahead of the rest of the wild card pack.
And along the way, they'll need role players like Refsnyder to pitch in -- in the field and at the plate.
Still, that's to come.
Monday's off-day on the schedule is a chance to get re-acclimated to the Eastern time zone, and reflect on a job well done. Beyond the numbers, the Sox can be secure in the knowledge that their just-completed road swing was a challenge they answered, and a time when they became legitimate contenders.