Things are getting chaotic in the MLB Power Rankings
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Was it too little, too late? Perhaps. But it was ... something, and right now that's certainly better than what the Red Sox went to bed with Friday night.
While you were floating on your Labor Day rafts, reveling in another year of fantasy football draft dominance, the Red Sox have won their last two games. The most recent victory came in the form of a 7-3 win over the Royals Sunday, putting them 5 1/2 games out of the final Wild Card spot.
The easy way to downplay the pair of victories is to simply look at the standings. It is there you will find the team you just beat - Kansas City - owning the worst record in all of baseball. Yes, even below the Oakland A's.
So be it. The games need to be played and narratives are continuing to be formed.
In the case of the swing through Kansas City, there were a few bright spots for the Red Sox. Their starting pitchers actually gave them back-to-back outings of five innings of work, with Chris Sale tossing five shutout frames while allowing just two hits over his 100-pitch outing Sunday.
Any concerns over Rafael Devers' wrist were pushed to the side, with the third baseman collecting a team-high five hits over the three-game set. Masa Yoshida's bat also finally emerged, joining Triston Casas, Adam Duvall and Alex Verdugo as the only Red Sox to hit home runs.
But, true to form, for every step forward, there was at least one step back, this time coming in the form of a Verdugo hamstring injury, which forced the outfielder from the game Sunday. And the continued offensive struggles of Trevor Story (1-for-13) didn't exactly give Alex Cora and Co. the warm and fuzzies, with the shortstop now hitting just .176 with a .496 OPS. (Note: Story, however, does continue to play stellar defense, with the Red Sox owning an 11-10 mark in games he has played this season.)
In other words, it was another round of the downs and ups of these Red Sox against a team everybody in baseball expects to beat. What awaits in the coming days is something a bit different.
The Red Sox are heading back into Tropicana Field for the first time since being obliterated by the Rays via a four-game sweep. It was the first sign that this was going to be an uphill battle for a Sox team in the big-bad-world of the American League East.
As we head into the final month of the regular season, what has been done, has been done for both the Red Sox and Rays. Tampa Bay has won all but one of the teams' eight meetings, allowing Kevin Cash's club to sit 29 games over .500 and two games out of the top spot in the A.L. East. The Red Sox? They can take solace that in games against other divisional teams their record stands at 18-7.
What this reunion with the Rays can do is start making the Red Sox feel like they are actually moving in the right direction. Wins at Kauffman Stadium don't really do that all that much. Victories at Tropicana Field? That's another story.
The Red Sox have lost 13 in a row at the home of the Rays, with a regular season record of 4-20 at Tropicana since the beginning of 2021. And, to top it off, they are being asked to turn this tide against a still-formidable World Series contender.
The feel-goods can obviously start with Brayan Bello's latest test, a Monday start against the team with the fourth-best OPS (.777) and fourth-most total bases in all of baseball. And he gets to go against the pitcher - Aaron Civale - many Red Sox fans wondered how got to their division rivals heading into the Trade Deadline.
That showdown will be followed by an opportunity for Kutter Crawford to shake off his recent downturn and beat another starter the Red Sox narrowly out on, Zach Eflin (who chose Tampa Bay over Boston in the free agent market).
If Bello and Crawford take care of business against this team in this place, that would supply the Red Sox with the kind of legitimate optimism it hadn't experienced since leaving the Bronx.
Such victories aren't going to immediately turn New England sports fans' attention away from Tom Brady's return, or allow for the kind of late-season excitement and anticipation the Sox' next two opponents - the Rays and Orioles - will feel regardless of the outcomes.
But it will a small feather in the Red Sox' hat. And after living life devoid of much panache, of late, that will have to do.
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