So much good for the Red Sox is being wiped out by so much bad
Aug. 27 this time around was supposed to be different.
It was going to the day after one which was filled with the opportunity to celebrate the great game of baseball. Danny Jansen was making history by becoming the first player in Major League History to play for both teams in a single game. Emma Tiedemann and Rylee Pay were serving as the first all-female broadcast booth in Red Sox history.
And the Red Sox were going to use the arrival of the underachieving Blue Jays to launch themselves smack dab in the middle of a last-season playoff push.
It was all going to be a far cry from 365 days before, when the Sox season went off the rails with a loss to the Dodgers for what would be the first a pivotal five-game losing streak.
Instead, it is more of the same misery. Except in the place of Mookie Betts returning to torture Sox' souls the agony came simply in the form of not-good-enough baseball and an increasingly awkward existence in the Wild Card standings.
First came the completion of the Red Sox and Blue Jays' June 26 game, with Toronto pulling away with three runs in the eighth on the way to a 4-1 win (60 days after first pitch had been thrown). Then there was the regularly-scheduled tilt, which saw the Sox drop a 7-3 decision thanks in large part to a disastrous five-run fifth inning against reliever Brad Keller.
Meanwhile, Kansas City was sweeping its doubleheader to launch themselves to 6 1/2 games up on the Sox. And while the Twins did lose for a second straight game, they still sit five games ahead of Alex Cora's club for the final Wild Card spot.
The uneasiness when it comes to the standings have now also evolved into just more than what is in front of the Red Sox. It is also what is sneaking up behind them.
The Sox a 1/2-game up on the Mariners and 1 1/2 games ahead of the once-lowly Tigers. As far as the quest to not land in the American League basement goes, the Rays and Blue Jays are sneaking up on Boston, who lead each team by just two and three games, respectively.
The feel-good story of 2024 is dissipating into the same-old story.
"We're not playing good baseball right now," Cora said. "It was a tough one. It was a tough weekend. We just got to play better, and we are capable of doing that.
"We established that brand of baseball throughout the season, and right now, it's not happening, in every aspect of the game. We're not pitching well. We're not playing good defense. We're not hitting. It gets magnified, too, where we're at right now. We just got to show up tomorrow. Put in some good at-bats, pitch and play defense, and try to win a game."
Cora's right. It hasn't been just one thing. It's virtually been everything.
In the last four games plus eight makeup innings, the Red Sox have been outscored, 34-12, by Arizona and Toronto. They haven't been able to avoid game-changing huge innings, succumbing to innings of three-or-more runs by their opponents seven times over this five-game skid.
Earlier in the season, it was the starting pitching that carried the load. Then the offense took over, with help from very effective bullpen and improved defense. Now, all the wheels have seemingly fell off the cart at the worst possible time.
After Game 1, Cora made mention that perhaps the inexperience of the group was being put on display with the sudden reality of how important every one of these innings meant. In other words, perhaps these well-meaning - and possibly overachieving - Red Sox were pressing.
Whatever the case, and however this team got here, these late-August vibes have started feeling all-too-familiar.
Another fan base taking over Fenway - with Blue Jays fans dominating the crowd with chants of "Let's go Blue Jays!" while the Red Sox were collapsing. A record that is two games worse than a year ago. And the feeling that this is going to be another sad trombone of a September.
It's a really good story that has gone really bad almost out of nowhere.
