Boston Red Sox: Remaining schedule no easy feat for Sox

Battling for a playoff spot, the Boston Red Sox head into the final quarter of the season with a healthy dose of quality opponents on the horizon.

For the Boston Red Sox, a team that has often lacked consistency and a strong identity in 2019, the playoffs are still a very real possibility.

They’re just going to need to play their best baseball of the season to make the playoffs a reality.

Winning three times in their last four games will sure help a lot. And, too, will be the return of a vintage Chris Sale.

Sale pitched eight innings of two-hit ball on Thursday, striking out 13, thanks in part to a mechanical fix to his pitching motion. This sort of hope has surfaced often this season, but if Sale makes 7 or 8 more starts like the one he had the other night, the playoffs will be a lock.

So, too, will things be bright if the offense shows up like it did Friday night in a 16-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. This included two home runs and four hits from J.D. Martinez, who is heating up at the right time.

In ten games in August, Martinez is hitting .468 with four home runs and 8 RBI.

Toss in a bullpen that has allowed only three runs in their last 15 innings and suddenly everything looks rosy.

If only an eight-game losing streak hadn’t reared its ugly face.  The schedule ahead isn’t the toughest but there aren’t also a whole lot of favors, meaning the Red Sox will need to continue this level of play to reach the playoffs.

Competition and the schedule ahead

At 15 games back in the A.L. East, the wild card seems like the best bet for the Red Sox. And at the conclusion of baseball on August 9, even five games back in the wild card race seems daunting.

Boston has 44 games remaining, including the finish of the suspended game from August 7 against the Kansas City Royals. These games are close to evenly split, with 23 to be played on the road, where the Red Sox are 32-26 this season.

The Red Sox have 17 games remaining against the American League East. They host the Yankees four more times, plus nine more games against the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles. Boston is 18-13 against these teams and a dismal 4-11 against the Yankees.

That leaves one of the teams ahead of Boston in the wild card, the Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa Bay is 9-6 against Boston and the teams meet up four more times in Tampa Bay this season.

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Boston also has 12 games against National League opponents. On this list are the Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, and Colorado Rockies. Of these four, only the Phillies have a winning record, though all four still are in contention for the N.L. wildcard.

On the docket are also games against the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland, who find themselves tied for first in the A.L. Central and wildcard lead.

Wildcard leaders

At the moment, the Twins and Cleveland would both be in the playoffs. They face each other eight more times in 2019, meaning Boston has a chance to make up some ground on one of these teams.

The Red Sox have three games against each team, facing Minnesota at home and Cleveland on the road.

Cleveland also has three games against Tampa Bay. The Rays, however, might have the easiest stretch ahead. They have 23 games against some of the worst teams in baseball (Tigers, Mariners, Orioles, Blue Jays) and only have two games left against the Yankees.

Tampa Bay is currently tied with the Oakland Athletics for the second wild card spot. Oakland, however, may benefit from not having to play any of the teams near them in the wild card (unless the Texas Rangers make a late push).

Oakland does have to face the Yankees six times and the Houston Astros seven. This includes a seven-game homestand when they get these teams back-to-back.

A lot of work still needs to be done for the Boston Red Sox to reach the playoffs; work that may end up being too little too late. The team is playing well over the last few games but we’ve seen this type of optimism before in 2019. Sustaining the momentum can go a long way.

Fortunes can turn on a dime. A five-game winning streak by Boston coupled with, say, a five-game losing streak by Oakland turns everything around in a heartbeat. Boston could have easily packed it in after losing eight straight, but they haven’t.

Once again giving a slimmer of hope in this frustrating season.