Even as the Red Sox turned their season around and charged back into contention for the playoffs earlier this month, there was some fear that their reversal of fortune was illusory.
Sure, the Red Sox were back in the middle of the wild card hunt. But they did so at the expense of lesser opponents.
The West Coast trip that saw them go 7-2? Impressive on the face of it, but it included a series win against the Los Angeles Angels (who had a double-figure losing streak as the Sox arrived in town), the Oakland A's (owners of one of the worst records in the league) and the slumping Seattle Mariners.
It's not easy to take seven of nine away from home, but surely, facing bad teams made it easier.
Then, when the Sox returned home, their homestand began with another series against the A's and concluded with one against Detroit, another of the American League punching bags.
So were the Red Sox good, or merely beating up on bad teams?
More of that will be determined over the next month, after the Red Sox are fed a steady diet of the best the American League East has to offer. Starting Monday, the Red Sox will play the Blue Jays, Rays and Yankees in 17 of their next 20 games. If the Sox are indeed worthy of a trip to the playoffs, we'll see it over the next four weeks.
But even before that, the Red Sox are making a point about their ability to compete.
Last weekend, they took two of three from the St. Loius Cardinals, who were in first in the NL Central at the time and currently sit just a game behind Milwaukee in that division. Then, this weekend, the Sox swept the Cleveland Guardians, who were leading their division when the series began, but after being swept by the Sox, are two games out of first with Minnesota having leapfrogged them.
Neither the Cardinals nor the Guardians are going to make the cut among the game's best teams. Neither is equal to, say, the Yankees, the Houston Astros, the New York Mets or the Los Angeles Dodgers. But they're not bottom-feeders, either, and both are expected to remain in the running for the postseason.
In stretching their winning streak to seven games, the Red Sox dominated all three games. They got three consecutive strong performances from their starting pitchers. In two of the games, the Guardians rallied a bit in the late innings to draw closer, but in each of the contests, the Sox won by multiple runs. And tellingly, a lot of the damage in the series was done by someone in the lower half of the order.
All of which suggests what we've seen over the last month or so: regardless of the quality of the competition, the Red Sox are pitching, hitting and fielding like a contender.
"It's not easy to (sweep) anyone,'' said Alex Cora after the Sox won their seventh straight series. 'That's a good baseball team. They've been playing great. We're a different team. We know we're good.''
When the Sox were getting steamrolled by the teams in their division in the first month of the season, it was easy to suggest that they were inferior to the Yankees, Blue Jays and Rays. In a division in which four teams won 91 or more games last season, the Sox looked like they were the weakest of the bunch and not capable of staying with the trio of East rivals.
But that was a long time ago -- before the Red Sox offense came to life, before the defensive play got crisper, and before the bullpen took on some semblance of structure. In April and early May, John Schreiber wasn't a factor. Neither were Rob Refsnyder, Jarren Duran and Franchy Cordero, none of whom were on the Opening Day roster.
In April, Nick Pivetta appeared to be on the verge of pitching himself out of the rotation. Now, he's 8-1 in his last 10 starts, with a sub-2.00 ERA and in contention for a spot on the American League All-Star team.
A lot has changed, not the least of which is the Red Sox' ability to play with anyone. They've managed to overtake both Toronto and Tampa Bay in the division and wild-card standings. They haven't lost consecutive games since the first of June.
None of which guarantees them a thing. And if the Red Sox stumble against the Jays, Rays and Yankees between now and just after the All-Star break, the skepticism will begin anew: Paper Tigers, who can beat up the cupcakes on the schedule, but are no match for the elite teams.
That seems unlikely at this point, however. The Red Sox lost games early in the season almost without regard to whom they were playing. When you're scoring one and two runs a night, and coughing up late-inning leads, the opponent doesn't much matter.
In the same way the opponent doesn't much matter now. Different team, capable of winning against anyone.