Before the Red Sox' 4-3 loss to the White Sox Friday night, Alex Cora was forced to give his laundry list of updates when it came to the roster.
Xander Bogaerts, Kaleb Ort and Darwinzon Hernandez were in, while Austin Davis (paternity), Chris Sale (COVID) and Jonathan Araúz (COVID) were out.
The conversation revolved mostly around health, protocols and bobbing and weaving his way through a 28-man roster.
"It’s what we have to do, it’s not perfect," Cora said. "When you’re in the middle of -- September should be fun, everybody should be pulling for each other, the emotions and all that stuff but where we’re at right now we have to take care of the group and if that’s what it means well so be it. That’s why you see sometimes the dugout is so empty because we don't have the personnel. From the competitive standpoint it sucks, it’s not cool because you want these guys to enjoy what’s going on, but if we want to keep playing and surviving and show up every day and be competitive and keep trying to winning a wild card or whatever it is we have to do this."
The was the line: "September should be fun ..."
He's not wrong.
This is a Red Sox team that woke up Saturday morning in the top Wild Card spot with just 19 games to go, sitting one game up on the Yankees, 1 1/2 games over the Blue Jays and two ahead of both Seattle and Oakland.
They are sitting at 80 wins, which officially matches the total most bookmakers put their predicted over-under for the season.
But for those in the middle of the fray, it has become a day-to-day exercise of breath-holding, worrying just as much about COVID tests as that day's final score.
Sure, J.D. Martinez was scratched from the lineup with back spasms, but at least he hadn't been told to stay in a Chicago hotel for the next 10 days. And maybe the Red Sox dropped their series opener, with Craig Kimbrel snuffing out an eight-inning rally with one of his vicious curveballs ("Nasty. Nasty, obviously," said Bobby Dalbec on the pitch that forced an inning-ending swing and miss), but Cora wasn't greeted in the manager's office with more COVID-related bulletins.
That's where we are at.
We all know there have been plenty of uncomfortable Septembers for the Red Sox. On Sept. 11, 1978, the Sox collapse was just taking root, sitting 1/2-game up on the Yankees after heading into the month with a 6 1/2-game lead. And on this date 10 years ago, they were in the midst of five-game losing streak, paving the way for a 5-11 finish to that historic collapse.
But it would be unfair to suggest this Red Sox team has crumbled under the weight of the race to October. Despite Friday night's defeat, they are keeping afloat using whatever means available. The outboard has broken down, so it's time to start paddling.
The feels of the final few weeks of the 2018 regular season are a foreign concept. That year the Red Sox were pretty much planning postseason rotations and rosters at this time of year. Kind of like what the team the Red Sox are facing this weekend, the White Sox, have the luxury of doing.
This is rolling heading into games having to rely on the always unpredictable starting pitcher "TBA" while maneuvering through a constant wave of lineup surprises.
Yes, September should be fun for these Red Sox. Maybe next week.
