It can turn in a hurry. Just ask the two teams playing in Sacramento Monday night.
When June 20 came around, the A's were feeling like they had finally gained entry into the group of clubs that could be considered contenders, sitting at .500 and just 1/2-game out of first place in the American League West. The Red Sox, however, were on the other end of the spectrum, landing at 13 games under .500 with murmurs already percolating regarding who was going to be sold off at the trade deadline.
Now, after the Red Sox's 4-2 win over the A's, both clubs are living with stark reminders regarding how important it is not to take the foot off the gas.
The team that took the turn for the worse, the Athletics, have really taken a turn for the worse. Since that June 20 jumping-off point, the A's are an MLB-worst 6-24, have lost their All-Star catcher (Shea Langeliers) for the season, and are 18 games below .500.
The Sox? They continued to make sure their path remained divergent from the A's, having now gone 26-7 in their last 33 games, while riding a 10-game road win streak.
In the series opener between the teams, the Red Sox did their part.
Ceddanne Rafaela, who was dropped to fifth in the batting order with newly acquired Curtis Mead sliding up to second, proved to be the difference-maker thanks to his sixth-inning grand slam. Payton Tolle also pitched in with another solid outing, giving up two runs over 5 1/3 innings, putting his ERA at 3.32.
"It's kind of that time of year where these count," Tolle told reporters. "These are starting to count more and more, and understanding that, but not putting too much pressure on it, and just going into each day, ‘How do we win today?’"
But while Chad Tracy's team did its part in taking advantage of the A's sad existence, the Red Sox have put themselves in a position where there should be no looking back. The Mead trade was a start. But it can't stop there. The wins, the bravado, and the understanding of the opportunity the Sox have need to be cemented.
If the Red Sox needed a nudge to remember all these realities, they got it when Mead was hit in the wrist with a fastball in the fourth inning. An inning later, he was out of the game, getting X-rays not too long after that. Fortunately for the Sox, the images were negative, and their new second baseman seems to have only a bad bruise to deal with.
In a perfect world, Mead recovers quickly, and he returns and picks up where he left off with the Nationals. But, as both of these teams have found at various times this season, the notion of Nirvana can come and go pretty quickly. There can't be downturns, and there probably needs to be even more help.
Major league sources continue to insist the Red Sox aren't done dealing, with less than a week remaining until the Aug. 3 trade deadline. There could be some additional offensive firepower added, perhaps at a shortstop position that currently is counting on Andruw Monasterio and a host of players still on the injured list. C.J. Abrams? Zach Neto? Both are going to be subject to the usual deadline inflation, perhaps making such a pursuit resemble Joe Ryan's a year ago.
A more realistic life raft could come in the form of pitching help, which shouldn't be diminished. With no Connelly Early and (potentially) Garrett Crochet, the Red Sox will be leaning heavily on two rookies (Tolle and Jake Bennett) who will likely go over 100 innings for the first time in their professional lives in their next respective starts.
If there is any sort of run into October, innings are going to need to be managed, not only with Early and Tolle, but even someone like Sonny Gray, who has pitched more than 184 innings once, and that was as a 25-year-old more than 10 years ago. The saving grace is that any acquisition wouldn't necessarily need to be top-of-the-rotation talent, but someone who could help get the Red Sox to the finish line.
Oh yeah, a high-leverage bullpen arm wouldn't hurt, either. (Luke Weaver, anyone?)
They are two games up on Cleveland in the wild card race, sitting five games over .500 and just 4 1/2 back of the second-place Yankees, with a playoff probability at 74 percent. It should also be noted that no team in baseball has played better in the last month, and it's not particularly close. And this is no longer a small sample size. It is a stretch that makes up one-sixth of the regular season.
There is no looking back now ... at least there shouldn't be.
