Boston Red Sox are rolling towards the playoffs; win streak reaches 7

For the first half of the 2021 season, the Boston Red Sox looked downright incredible. They looked like a legitimate World Series contender. Then the wheels fell off for a month and a half and washed away not only their hard work in the standings, but also with all the fans they turned away during their miserable 2020 season.

But since September rolled around, and as the Sox finally got healthy following seemingly their entire roster cycling through the COVID Injured List, they have been red hot. For the first time in a couple months, this is a team that should be inspiring confidence that something special could happen in October.

Scorching Boston Red Sox have Boston seeing…yellow?

Following their two game demolition of the New York Mets, the Red Sox have won seven straight, with the past five coming in their yellow City Edition jerseys. Was the competition the best? No, but wins are wins and the Sox need every one they can get. The team has already announced that until they lose, they will continue to wear these eyesores.

I’m completely torn on these jerseys. My first thought is that they are absolutely hideous, but then the Boston Marathon-inspired colors take me back to that magical 2013 season where this team lifted up a whole city, and I can almost start to feel myself start to get behind them.

But most importantly, the jerseys are working. Baseball players are quirky and superstitious, and good luck charms are very much a thing in MLB. From the Kansas City Royals Rally Mantis in 2016 to Aubrey Huff’s lucky red underwear with the San Francisco Giants in 2010, there’s no telling what will motivate a team and get them on a run.

So who knows, maybe these ugly yellow uniforms will be the talisman that turn the Boston Red Sox into true a postseason threat. I certainly won’t complain if they take the field in game one of their ALDS series wearing them, that’s for sure.

How have the Boston Red Sox turned it around?

This basically comes down to two things. First, they finally got healthy again. It goes without saying that a team missing half of its roster is not going to play well, especially as more players got swept away by the day as COVID rampaged their locker room.

Xander Bogaerts, Chris Sale, and Kike Hernandez all got COVID. Kyle Schwarber came to town with an injured hamstring. That’s a lot of star power missing.

And second, they remembered how to play baseball. Their pitching staff stopped spotting opponents early leads and the offense got back on track. The Sox have made a habit of coming from behind this year, but being asked to do it every night is too much, especially when you’re not at full strength.

It seems simple, but when both of these fail to happen simultaneously, you have no chance of winning. That’s what happened to the Boston Red Sox, and the result was blowing their 10-game lead on the Yankees that has led to their wild September.

As recently as a week ago, the Sox were in a three way tie with the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays for the two American League Wild Card spots. Thanks to their seven game win streak, their Wild Card lead is two and a half games. With just nine games left in the season, that’s a big number.

The biggest impact this winning streak will have is that it put Boston in control of home field advantage in the winner take all Wild Card Game. This is a team that has dominated at home all year long, with the second most home wins in the AL, so playing that game at home is critical.

How far these Boston Red Sox can go

The answer is pretty simple: as far as their bats will take them. Their pitching staff is stepping up down the stretch, especially their bullpen which has been lights out for much of this month. But make no mistake about it, this is an offensive minded team, and that is their recipe to winning in October.

And right now, it’s looking like their bats are going to bring them to home field advantage in the Wild Card Game. As I mentioned earlier, that’s a huge advantage for this team, whether they end up facing the Blue Jays or Yankees.

At this point, there’s no excuse for the Sox to not find themselves in the postseason. They’ve done the work, they just need to see it out from here. And with the help of their yellow jerseys, the Boston Red Sox should be in Tampa Bay for Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Rays.