The Red Sox are making a strong push for the playoffs right now
BOSTON -- Don't look now, but the Boston Red Sox are making quite the push for the playoffs. Or better yet, you should be looking now.
While the NBA champion Boston Celtics demanded the attention in Boston sports fans over the last two months, Alex Cora's club has been playing some excellent baseball over the last several weeks. If the Red Sox can keep it up, they'll be worth keeping eyeballs on this summer as long as they continue to make a push for October baseball.
Boston finished off a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays in Toronto on Wednesday night with a 7-3 victory, sparked by some big swings and more stolen bases. The Red Sox have now won eight of their last 10 games and 10 of their last 14. They've won each of their last three series, with their sweep of the Jays coming after Boston took two of three from both the Phillies and the Yankees at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox now sit five games over .500 and just one game behind the Kansas City Royals for the American League's final Wild Card spot. Boston is just a game-and-a-half behind the Minnesota Twins for the No. 2 Wild Card spot in the AL.
Not only have they been winning, but the Red Sox have been playing an exciting brand of baseball. They've been menaces on the base paths, with five more steals on Wednesday night. They have 21 swipes over the last 10 games, and lead the American League with 76 stolen bases on the season. Boston has averaged six runs per game over their last 10, and own a respectable plus-47 run differential for the year.
Jarren Duran has been the catalyst of it all, slashing .355/.423/.629 over his last 11 games. He has nine extra-base hits over that span with three homers, four doubles, and a pair a triples, and has been successful on all eight of his stolen base attempts. He's scored 16 runs and driven in nine others over the stretch.
Rafael Devers (three homers and nine RBI) and Tyler O'Neill (four homers, nine RBI) have also been swinging a hot bat as of late. Boston's offensive resurgence can be traced back to the start of the month, with the team ranking first in batting average (.294), and OBP (.369), third in slugging (.497) and second in stolen bases (29) in June. The 99 runs that the Red Sox have scored are tied for the most in June with the first-place Yankees.
And while Boston's bats have come to life, the pitching remains strong -- especially out of the bullpen. Now the team just needs to continue to keep pushing, rather than fall into a pit as they did last season around this time.
Reinforcements will be coming soon with Wilyer Abreu and Triston Casas inching closer to a return. Whether or not ownership gives the front office the OK to add at the trade deadline next month remains unknown, but Craig Breslow should be given the green light to put this team in the best spot to compete all season.
At the moment, the Red Sox have shown that they're a team worth our attention, and one the front office should be adding to -- not subtracting from -- at the deadline.
