After five straight losses, the Red Sox’ playoff hopes are hanging on by a thread. John Tomase weighs in on the the team’s struggles and what they can take away from this season.
For the Red Sox to have any hope of reviving their fading playoff chances, they'll need to go off right now. Manager Alex Cora believes they have it in them.
Asked before Wednesday's 3-0 victory over the Blue Jays if he could see the Red Sox winning 10 out of 12 to make a move up the standings, Cora predictably said yes, because what manager wouldn't? He also laid out his reasons.
For one, he believes the schedule works in Boston's favor, since the AL Central teams the Red Sox are pursuing -- the Guardians, Royals, and Twins -- all have one series remaining against each other, which means the Red Sox will have guaranteed opportunities to make up ground on someone at least three more times.
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"I've always said, when you're playing bad, play .500 baseball and survive and then win eight out of 10, 12 out of 15," he said. "The thing here is all of those teams are going to play against each other, so when they're playing, we've got to win. Take care of yourself and then look around at what happened that night.
"I do believe we have a run. Hopefully it started (Tuesday). We've just got to be patient. Keep working hard, just slow down the game, and I do believe we can have a run like that."
Because former ace Chris Sale and the Braves beat the Twins on Wednesday, the Red Sox only trail Minnesota by three games for the final wild card. The Red Sox and Twins also have a series remaining in September, the only three games the Red Sox will play outside the division in their final 19 games.
Cora also cited the return of setup man Justin Slaten to settle the bullpen, the recent improvement of the starting pitching -- which took another step with Brayan Bello's masterful eight shutout innings on Wednesday -- and his hope that the club unlocks more power at home.
"There's a big disparity there," Cora said. "We're 24th, we hit one home run every thirty-something at-bats here, and we're fourth, we hit one home run every 24 at-bats on the road.
"Obviously, you guys know what the roster is. It's a left-handed roster. On the road, we will hit homers. We love the running game and all that, but those (home runs) are game-changers. We've seen it. At home, when (Tyler O'Neill) is not clicking, it's hard for our guys to hit the ball out of the ballpark."
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O'Neill delivered the clinching two-run homer in the eighth on Wednesday, so maybe the worm is turning. But despite all of their recent struggles, including a 16-21 record since the All-Star break (which doesn't include Tuesday's suspended loss to the Jays, because it goes in the books for June), three games back with three left to play against the Twins is not insurmountable.
Also strangely helping their cause: The Red Sox play 16 of their final 29 games on the road, where they are 38-27, second only to the Yankees in the American League. They're only missing the playoffs because they've been so bad (31-37) at home.
"We have a few games on the road next week," Cora said of a six-game swing through Detroit and Flushing. "We've got a lot of games on the road in September, so if we have to dominate on the road and be below-average at home and get into the dance that way, we'll do it."
