It's starting to feel like the stretch drive for the Red Sox

For the Red Sox, this has become all about how life is going to look when Sept. 29 rolls around.

That's why the kind of images presented all day Saturday should get the blood flowing a bit.

The meat and potatoes of the day at PNC Park in Pittsburgh was a 4-0 win for the Red Sox over the Pirates, allowing Chad Tracy's club to once again reclaim the optimism that had been somewhat slipping away throughout this current road trip. The Sox are now 5 1/2 games up in the wild card race, firmly in the second spot and still just two games behind the Yankees for home field in that first postseason round.

The important news coming out of the Steel City by the time Saturday turned into Sunday was more than the final score. The Red Sox were peppered with pieces of the puzzle that figure to be pretty important when these regular-season games run out 39 games from now.

It all started before the first pitch was even thrown, with Tracy revealing the much-anticipated rehab assignments are finally upon us, with Trevor Story starting his in Worcester Sunday and Roman Anthony joining the SeaDogs in Portland Tuesday. Isiah Kiner-Falefa will also begin playing baseball again Wednesday, also with the WooSox.

And before anyone suggested the Red Sox are just fine without the potential reinforcements, there was the always uncomfortable reminder that just because there are seven weeks left, it doesn't mean the attrition won't keep coming. Case in point: Masa Yoshida is now being sidelined with a hamstring injury after pulling up lame Saturday.

Then there were the good vibes siphoned from the game.

All conversations regarding how this win might translate into real October success starts with Sonny Gray, the undeniable ace of this team who has earned the right for that much-coveted Game 1 benefit of the doubt. This time, while throwing to his Game 1 batterymate Adley Rutschman for the first time, Gray threw seven shutout innings for his 15th win of the season.

Gray has the fourth-best ERA of all American League starters (2.65), with the Red Sox going 17-6 in his outings. When it comes to feeling good about Game 1 starters, that will play.

"I'm just trying to be myself. I'm not trying to be anyone other than who I am," Gray told reporters. “Obviously, Garrett is very missed. I mean, he’s an electric guy, just his personality. He's a dude, right? I do know, there's moments like tonight, when you need to go out and win a baseball game."

Two other important elements of potential success in the playoffs presented themselves after Gray's exit, with the combination of Erik Miller and Aroldis Chapman coming on to dominate the Pirates for the final two innings, retiring all six batters they faced while striking out three of them.

While the hope is still that Garrett Whitlock's absence will be a distant memory when the end of September arrives, the late-season effectiveness of both hard-throwing lefties is something that might make the Red Sox's postseason world go round.

There was more to dream on for the Red Sox.

Wilyer Abreu showed he is capable of presenting the kind of middle-of-the-order threat all legitimate October runs are built on, tying his career-high with a 22nd home run, while also notching a pair of doubles. There has been no hotter American League hitter in August than Abreu, whose OPS for the month stands at 1.323.

Andruw Monasterio also isn't letting up, helping the Red Sox seal the deal with a two-run double in the ninth inning. The shortstop is hitting .345 with a .920 OPS after the All-Star break.

And then there was the final run, driven in by another intriguing potential feather in the Red Sox's postseason cap, Jahmai Jones. With his ninth-inning RBI, Jones is now hitting .478 (11-for-23) with a 1.433 OPS in his time with his new team. And while he has started in just five games over this month in Boston, he is 7-for-14 with two walks (and a 1.705 OPS) in those contests, while tearing up lefties to the tune of nine hits in 18 at-bats.

It was almost exactly 13 years ago the 2013 team officially started to define themselves as contenders thanks to a West Coast road trip that officially started making people believe. They went 24-12 the rest of the regular season, starting with that first win in San Francisco, serving as the launching pad for their World Series run.

The easy narrative is that there is still a long way to go, but that is really no longer the case. Back-to-school shopping is upon us, and so is thinking about what that first playoff game might look like.