SEATTLE - The "maybes" are becoming a bit more certain just in the nick of time.
After months of not being able to shake off the uncertainty that lingered since Day 1 of spring training, the Red Sox are heading into the All-Star break with the kind of sense of identity they have been thirsting for.
The most definitive punctation of the season came Sunday, with the Red Sox managing a three-game sweep thanks to a 4-3 series finale win at Fenway Park. It put Alex Cora's club five games over .500 and two games out of the third Wild Card spot.
But perhaps more telling was what the Red Sox continue to represent in the last few weeks, at a time it sure felt the boat was taking on too much water to stay afloat. They own the best record in the American League since June 14 (15-8), while claiming victories in eight of their last nine games.
Along the way, some much-needed definition has been uncovered.
Compared to the uneasy state of the team heading into last year's All-Star festivities, these Red Sox feel more of the trade deadline "buying" kind than in 2022. For starters, they can actually beat the good teams, carrying the third-best record of any big league club against opponents with a record of better than .500 record (31-25). The problem has come with teams worse than .500, which, even after the sweep of Oakland, stands at 17-18.
The Red Sox knew they needed to fix that over the weekend. And that they did.
But the true revelations have been at what had been at least somewhat uncertain positions.
With the understanding that his workload will have to be managed, mystery man Masa Yoshida has become less of a mystery. As Cora noted after the latest win, in which the outfielder launched the game-winning home run in the eighth inning, "I know grades are coming. He’s an A. Whoever gives him less, I don’t know what they’re watching."
Yoshida heads into the break hitting .314 (third-best in the American League) with an .874 OPS. Since May 1, Yoshida has hit .333 with an .891 OPS, and this month the batting average has been .480 with an OPS of 1.180. Good, for sure. But not even the most astonishing revelation of late for the Red Sox lineup.
In July, Jarren Duran is second only to the Cardinals' Willson Contreras for the top OPS in baseball, totaling 1.708 to go along the majors' best July batting average (.583). The numbers have come as a result of Duran going 14-for-24 with 10 runs, six doubles, two triples and a home run.
In other words, a team that was desperate to find stars not named Rafael Devers has seemingly uncovered a couple.
There is also the bet Chaim Bloom put on Justin Turner being able replace All-Star J.D. Martinez. While Martinez will be living the life in Seattle the next couple of days as the National League's starting DH, the Red Sox can still rest easy that Turner's presence has been everything they could have hoped and then some.
During this key sprint to the All-Star break in July, Turner is 14-for-31 (.471) wiht a 1.127 OPS. He is also one of five Red Sox hitting .400 or better in July with runners in scoring position, joining Devers (6-for-11, .545), Christian Arroyo (4-for-8, .500), Yoshida (3-for-7, .429) and Duran (2-for-5). It is the Sox DH/first baseman who has the most hits of the bunch, going 7-for-17 (.412).
What the whole ball of wax has offered is an opportunity to identify who can be leaned on heading into the season's final months. Speaking of which, another somewhat unexpected piece of the foundation - both in the present and future - has become catcher Connor Wong.
Wong has powered through a June slump that came with his newly-acquired workload to manage a .350 clip in July. But it is his game-changing defense that has gone a long way to adding to this mid-July optimism. Sunday, it was Wong throwing out the potential game-tying run - Brent Rooker - trying to steal second with nobody out in the ninth.
Wong carries the third-best Defensive WAR (1.7) of all players in the big leagues, has the fifth-best Pop Time (1.89) and leads all catchers with above-average caught stealing (7).
As for the pitchers, there certainly can be more certainty to be had. They have found their ace (Brayan Bell), a solid No. 2 or 3 (James Paxton), and a promising middle of the rotation option (Kutter Crawford). After that, the hope is there can be some sort of addition, even with the likely early-August return of Chris Sale. The dynamic of Brennan Bernardino opening with Nick Pivetta serving as the bulk guy has worked, as has the multiple-inning outings from Chris Murphy and Brandon Walter. But all of it seems somewhat piecemeal until the end of the month.
What the Red Sox do possess that simply wasn't in the mix when trying to figure out their identity in the final weeks of last July is a no-doubt-about-it game-ending combination. The Sox paid for certainty with the duo, and that's exactly what they got. (As Jansen recently noted, even with John Schreiber coming back there might be a need for one more end-of-game arm.)
Some will point to the gift that has been the three-series stretch that includes two with Oakland and one with the floundering Cubs. Maybe that will be what ultimately gets the Red Sox to where their trade deadline intentions can't be up for debate. But it should be noted how it certainly feels like the pieces of the puzzle are finally starting to come into place, with Sale and Trevor Story representing a few more perfectly-timed fits.
This isn't the Atlanta Braves. And there are certainly American League teams that might feel more confident in their lot in life heading into the season's crunch-time. But, all things considered, the Red Sox have landed in the kind of spot they were hoping come this time of year.
They are in the conversation ... the kind of conversation that actually offers some late-summer hope.
