A week ago, all was seemingly lost for the Boston Red Sox.
Since an eight-game heater to close April and begin May, Boston had struggled for any semblance of consistency. Just as the pitching had finally started to figure it out, the offense had gone catatonic since midway through the San Diego series as part of a 7-15 stretch from May 21 through June 13.
The bottom-of-the-barrel defense certainly hadn't helped things, and a pair of demoralizing extra-innings losses to the lowly Colorado Rockies had the season seemingly on the brink, even if it was only the first half of June.
Now, in the midst of a six-game winning streak, extended with back-to-back thumpings of the Minnesota Twins, all is no longer lost, and there's that dangerous feeling creeping into the backs of brains in Boston.
Hope.
The hope that the Red Sox might be able to scratch and claw their way to a Wild Card spot and playoff berth. "Just have to get in," is what's echoing throughout subconsciouses.
Suddenly, last place in the AL East doesn't seem like Boston's to lose as the Yankees and Blue Jays both slip up. The Sox are now just 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. Scoreboard watching this soon in the season is never healthy, but such is life when you're trying to live on the margins with Chaim Bloom, something Boston wasn't doing a particularly good job of on a consistent basis as recently as last week.
On a night where Corey Kluber gave up three nukes that didn't completely tank Boston's chances at a 'W', that feeling of hope only intensified as you kept one eye on the game and one eye on the out-of-town scoreboard. A 5-for-5 outing from Christian Arroyo and five shutout innings from Kutter Crawford certainly helps.
But them's the breaks, and the breaks are all going Boston's way over this latest winning streak (which started with a sweep of the hated rivals from New York) be it Arroyo and Crawford standing out, Triston Casas and Jarren Duran finding it after a tumultuous May, Alex Verdugo responding to a benching in the best way possible or the Sox not even needing Rafael Devers to be the hero regularly.
The situational hitting has revived with Boston moving up to second in the Majors with a .290 average with runners in scoring position and two outs. During this hot streak, the bottom third of the order is batting .368 with 15 RBI and a .429 average with RISP and two outs. The starters have a 2.56 ERA and the bullpen a 2.82. Hardly sustainable, but perhaps a promising turn for the better.
As Greg Bedard wrote last Friday, those weren't your dad's Yankees. Even then, the Red Sox did what they should do against wayward opponents that try their damndest to stand in the way, rolling through what were barely the Bronx Bombers. They're continuing it again versus the Twins, a division leader, albeit one under .500 in what's been the weakest division in baseball for over a decade. Either way, it's what Boston should be doing against these teams if it proclaims itself to be anything better than an average team (that for the better part of a month was well-below average).
Momentum should be on Boston's side coming out of the Minnesota series, just in time for a date with the sub-.500 White Sox, which should add momentum for the Sox' toughest stretch in weeks. The Marlins will be up to bat with the Blue Jays on deck and the Rangers in the hole.
There's hope, for now.
We saw what happened after taking a sliver of momentum into May as the Red Sox faltered against opponents both superior and inferior.
It's the hope that kills you.
But get through those three series, and Boston is on its way to (what should be) more clean living with two series against the hapless Athletics, a date with the sub-.500 Cubs and a set with the struggling Mets.
It's easy to get wrapped up in the cartography of the schedule, but this is a stretch that will separate the Red Sox from the pretenders if they continue to take care of a weaker part of the slate. Put forth some strong showings against those tougher opponents, and suddenly all the hemming and hawing about win projections or Wild Card races at the beginning of the season doesn't seem like as much of a fading pipe dream.
The ups and downs will still come and go like the tides. The players will tell you, that's just baseball. There are 88 of 162 left to play, after all.
“I mean, it’s baseball," Justin Turner said last Tuesday. “There’s going to be ups and downs, but obviously, you show up every day to win every single game and we know that over a 162-game season, we’re not going to win them all. But, as long as we can put ourselves in a position to win as many of those games we can and give ourselves a chance every time. We go home tonight and shake it off and come back and try to win a game tomorrow.”
Giving themselves a chance is what the Red Sox have done over this heater, but they still can't afford to give those chances right back.