A miracle may be the only shot the Boston Red Sox have left at making it to the postseason after going through a rough 3-7 stretch over their past 10 games. On Wednesday night, the Red Sox continued to lose ground in the AL Wild Card race, as they suffered an 8-3 defeat to the New York Mets to give them their fifth consecutive loss that knocks their record down to 70-70. For reference, the last time this season that they had a record of .500 or worse was all the way back on June 14.
This is not the time for the Red Sox to feel sorry for themselves, as it is still possible for them to make up a 5.5-game deficit in the standings with 22 games remaining in the season, unlikely as that may be. But self-awareness is the first step in self-improvement, and manager Alex Cora called his team out as exactly what they are following their latest defeat to the Mets.
“Right now, we’re just an average team. Huge homestand coming up and we gotta be better,” Cora said, via Boston Strong on X, formerly known as Twitter.
At this point, Alex Cora only wants to fixate over the things he can control. As much of a goal as it is for the Red Sox to try and cut the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals' lead in the wild card standings, Cora continued to douse his team with a cold reality check.
“We’re playing .500 baseball. Talking about the Royals and Twins doesn’t matter,” Cora added, per Christopher Smith of Mass Live.
Since the All-Star break, the Red Sox have been playing subpar baseball. Since play resumed on July 19, they have gone 17-27 with a run differential of negative-46. That simply is not good enough for any team with playoff aspirations.
But this next stretch of games is exactly what the doctor ordered for an ailing Red Sox squad. Not only are they headed home after a brutal 1-5 stretch on the road, they are also set to face the historically-bad Chicago White Sox, who are due for a few consecutive losses after taking an 8-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.
These are must-win games for the Red Sox, and if they falter against the White Sox, then it might be time to call the time of death on their 2024 season.
Alex Cora, Red Sox suffer road trip from hell
On August 30, prior to the first game of the Red Sox's six-game road trip across Detroit and New York, they had a record of 38-27 on away from the friendly confines of Fenway Park. They had one of the best road marks in the MLB, so that must have filled the roster with confidence as they looked to get back on track after starting off slowly after the All-Star break.
However, the road trip went to hell rather quickly. After a 7-5 win in the series opener against the Tigers, the Red Sox seemingly forgot to hit as a collective. They scored exactly one run each in the next three games that followed, and then scored two and three runs, respectively, in the final two games of their series against the Mets. Over the course of their five-game losing streak, they've only averaged 1.6 runs per game — a woeful output.
“It sucked, man. It was tough. I think we went to Detroit 2.5 games back or 3.5 games back and now we’re 5.5 (games back). We’re playing .500. Like I said, right now we’re just an average team. So you’ve gotta show up on Friday and try to be better,” Cora said.
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