With the trade deadline fastly approaching and the playoffs creeping shortly after, the Boston Red Sox are slowly creeping up in the AL East. Will it be enough?
After Sunday’s 9-6 loss at the hands to the Yankees, the Red Sox sit nine games back in the AL East. Their next seven games are still against the Yankees and Rays. The rest of July and early August will be a test of will, and will ultimately determine the course of either a fourth straight pennant, or a wild card spot.
This was another odd series for the Yankees. First they hit an astounding 20 home runs in the three game series alone. Then, they give up 44 runs at Fenway Park to your division rivals—the most by a team in a four game series of the rivalry. Aroldis Chapman pitched for the first time since his last save on Thursday, and he looked slumped against the Red Sox … again.
Rafael Devers and company scored early and often in the first three games with a total of 11 home runs. Xander Bogaerts also had a good series with two home runs in Game 2, but, most importantly the pitching held up—besides Sale’s outing Sunday.
Devers, who is by far the biggest all star snub this year, has increased his average up to .329 while sneaking his way into the AL MVP debate. His defense has improved tremendously over the last 12 months, and he’s not only spraying the ball wherever he wants to, but is torching the laces off—statcast shows exit velocities well over 100 mph, including Sunday’s error towards Gleyber Torres at 105 mph.
Which leads us to the trade deadline. There are so many pieces reportedly movable on July 31, which becomes enticing for contenders like Boston. Only problem is the incumbent amount of trade chips and money makes any trade tight, but you never know with Dave Dombrowski.
While nobody knows what will happen at the trade deadline, all we know is that the next week of games could prove costly at a shot of repeating as World champions. Stay tuned.
