Boston Red Sox: Wild September on tap for resilient Sox

Buckle up, Boston Red Sox fans. The rest of the 2021 regular season is going to be a wild ride.

After looking completely dead in the water just a few short weeks ago, the Sox clawed their way back into the playoff picture. Even after losing the first two games of their series with the Tampa Bay Rays in truly hideous fashion, the Sox are only 0.5 games behind the New York Yankees for the first wild card spot. But most importantly, they still have a two-game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners as they cling onto the second spot.

Who could have predicted that after how terribly the Sox have played for stretches this year? I certainly didn’t.

Boston Red Sox rollercoaster second half has led us here

Calling the last month of their season up and down is the probably the understatement of the season. Even now, every game is an adventure with the ragtag roster Alex Cora is forced to use as COVID-19 tears apart their locker room day by day. But for the most part, they have found a way to stay afloat and keep winning, something many teams would not be able to do with this level of attrition.

More from Chowder and Champions

• 3 Patriots on the Bubble Who Have Clinched Their 53-Man Roster Spots
• 3 Midseason Chaim Bloom Decisions That Have Killed the 2023 Red Sox
• 10 Patriots Who Will Be Cut by Tuesday’s Roster Deadline
• MLB Screws Red Sox Fans With Broadcast for Mookie Betts Return
• 3 Most Underpaid Celtics Heading Into the 2023 Season

Helping matters is the Yankees falling apart once again, having now lost eight of their last 10 games. This, of course, follows the 13-game win streak that had put Boston’s season on the brink. But that’s how quickly things can change in baseball.

Chaim Bloom’s deadline may not have been so bad after all

When I proclaimed that Chaim Bloom’s first meaningful trade deadline in Boston showcased his inexperience leading a front office, many of you rightfully disagreed. Because after the hot starts for Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo in New York fizzled out, there is no debate that the Boston Red Sox acquisition of Kyle Schwarber has turned their season around.

He’s been absolutely raking, and his hitting approach seems to be spreading through the team, similar to the impact JD Martinez had upon his arrival in 2018. While I still think that Bloom should have done more to bolster the bullpen, the Schwarber pickup is one of the biggest reasons that the Sox are in any sort of position to make the postseason.

What the rest of the Boston Red Sox season will look like

Coming down the home stretch, the Boston Red Sox are in a great position, no matter how ugly things have been the past few days. While the division is out of play at this point, the Red Sox should have their sights set squarely on hosting the AL Wild Card game. It is well within their reach, but they will have to earn it.

As mentioned earlier, the Yankees are once again in the middle of falling apart, but they are a talented team that still has a run in them. The Oakland A’s are fading, but the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners are close behind. A playoff berth is not a sure thing by any stretch, but this is a team that should be playing in October.

In the coming days, the Sox will start getting players back off the COVID related IL, which will only help matters. For the past week, they’ve been forced to throw out lineups full of players recently signed or pulled up from Worcester. It’s gone about as well as expected for the most part, so the Sox desperately need the rest of their big names back and performing well.

Among the teams contending for the wild card, only the Jays have an easier remaining schedule, even though the Sox do have three critical games at home against the Yankees at the end of September. If things continue how they have been recently, the Yankees may be playing only for pride at that point, but that series may also end up deciding home field in an all-AL East Wild Card game.

In the end, this team has well more than enough to get across the finish line, and should end up with Chris Sale stepping onto the Fenway Park mound on October 5 to open the playoffs. At this point, anything else would be extremely disappointing. The schedule is lining up, they should be finally getting back to full health, and after bordering on a full-on collapse, the Boston Red Sox finally look once again like they will find a way into the 2021 playoffs.