As the Red Sox move into playoff contention, are you hopeful that they will be active at the trade deadline? Our Red Sox insider John Tomase weighs in.
The Boston Red Sox are the hottest team in Major League Baseball.
With nine wins in their last 11 games, the Red Sox entered Tuesday with a 43-36 record that puts them in a Wild Card spot. They continued their torrid stretch Monday night with a dramatic comeback walk-off victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Their recent surge hasn't gone unnoticed nationally. Several MLB experts are buying in on the hype, as shown by their latest Power Rankings. The Red Sox cracked the top 10 out of 30 teams in almost every ranking released by a major publication over the last couple of days.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Here's a roundup of Red Sox rankings from national media:
MORE RED SOX
Snyder: "Heading into the season, the Red Sox were thought by many to be the one AL East team that wouldn't contend. They are now sitting in a wild-card spot. They've won nine of 11."
Yahoo! Sports (Jordan Shusterman): 8th
Bleacher Report (Joel Reuter): 9th
Reuter: "The Red Sox continue to be a much better team on the road (24-16, +54 RD) than they are at Fenway Park (18-20, -6 RD). And with 12 of their next 18 games at home, that trend will have to change if they want to solidify their status as buyers. The return of rookie outfielder Wilyer Abreu on Saturday should provide a nice boost for the offense."
Mailhot: "The Red Sox hovered around .500 for essentially the entire season — never climbing more than four games over and never falling more than two games below that mark. Until last week, that is. Their series win over the Yankees a couple of weekends ago gave them the momentum to sweep the Blue Jays and win their weekend series over the Reds, pushing them six games over .500 and into sole possession of the final AL Wild Card spot."
theScore: 9th
"The Red Sox are playing some of their best baseball in years. Jarren Duran's breakout campaign has been a great story, and he could very well represent the team at the All-Star Game. The 27-year-old is hitting .384/.443/.640 this month and leads MLB with 10 triples. David Hamilton has also benefited from all of Boston's injuries: He has 16 stolen bases and a .782 OPS over the last month."
The Athletic (Rustin Dodd, Chad Jennings and Kaitlyn McGrath): 10th
USA TODAY (Gabe Lacques): 10th
FOX Sports (Ben Verlander): 10th
Verlander: "The Red Sox keep on rolling. After taking four of six from the Phillies and Yankees, the Red Sox won five of six this past week, including a sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays. Jarren Duran has suddenly emerged as one of the best outfielders in all of baseball. He stole three more bases and hit a pair of homers this past week, giving him seven on the season to go with a .288/.352/.483 slash line. Tanner Houck is still shoving, too. He's 7-5 with a 2.14 ERA this season."
Leitch: "Is Jarren Duran an All-Star? According to Baseball Reference WAR, he has been the best player on the Red Sox this year, and the team, which has begun to turn a corner after a long stretch bouncing around .500, has taken on his character: They’re now a speed team. Duran has stolen 20 bases and has hit a stunning 10 triples so far, and he has become one of the most purely exciting players to watch in the sport. The Red Sox have been looking for an identity for a few years now, and thanks to Duran, they may now have one."
