Red Sox will be tested by 14-game stretch vs Yankees, Rays

The Red Sox start a stretch this week of 14 games straight against the Rays and Yankees. Do they have what it takes to prove they belong in the postseason?

The Boston Red Sox went into the three-game weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles with one thing on their minds: Get a sweep. The Orioles came into the series yet to reach the 30 win mark, making them the second-worst team in all of baseball. The Red Sox were coming off of a series win against the Blue Jays, and David Price was on the mound to start Friday night’s game in Camden Yards, so what could go wrong? The answer is a whole lot.

Price would only go 4 innings, giving up 6 runs on 8 hits, 2 of which were home runs. The bullpen wouldn’t fare any better, giving up 5 runs to lead Baltimore to an 11-2 victory.

Saturday night would go much better, with the offense exploding for 17 runs on 17 hits. Jackie Bradley Jr.would hit two 3-run homers, along with Mookie Betts and Rafael Devers adding a homer apiece. Sandy Leon even got in on the fun when he took Orioles position player Stevie Wilkerson deep to center.

As far as the pitching went, Porcello would give up 6 runs on 11 hits in 5 innings. His ERA is now creeping up to 6.00 after his latest poor outing and it’s with a large sample size too. It’s easy to say Rick won’t be here once 2020 rolls around, but it’s starting to get to the point where he may not even be able to finish 2019 with the club.

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Sunday was just a flat out bleh game. The offense did exactly nothing, getting no-hit through the first 6 innings, tallying only one hit overall, and being shut out. Andrew Cashner took the loss, going 6 innings while giving up 4 runs. It would be a 5-0 final on Sunday, giving the Orioles the series win, their first against Boston since back in 2017. Unreal.

A week ago, the Red Sox were just beginning a stretch of 21 straight games against the AL East. They should have gone 5-2 at the worst, but they finished at 4-3. That is just straight unacceptable when you are going against teams by the likes of Toronto and Baltimore, who aren’t exactly juggernauts.

The bigger reason why winning more games against those teams was so important is because they now have to play 14 straight against the other two AL East squads, the Rays and Yankees. This stretch is going to make or break the Red Sox season. It’s going to decide whether they deserve to make it to the dance in October or not. This is it, enough playing around. It’s time to wake up.

I do see some out there saying that this team should sell, but I couldn’t disagree with that more. Like I have said in the past, this team isn’t too far off from last years when you come to think of it. Chris Sale is Chris Sale, and I would expect him to start being more consistent as the season rolls on. Price has been the most consistent starter in the rotation, Eduardo Rodriguez has been solid as of late, and I would expect Cashner to come along eventually.

As far as the offense goes, it has been statistically better than last years.

The problem is the bullpen, and really the pitching staff as a whole. But as I said above, it shouldn’t take much for the rotation to start getting more consistent. All Dave Dombrowski needs to do is make a move or two, and let it all play out. They clearly need a reliever, and MAYBE one more starter would do the trick. It doesn’t have to be anybody crazy, just someone who could replace Porcello who has just been god awful.

So at the end of the day, this team isn’t far off from being a legit threat. They’re 3 games back of the second Wild Card spot as we speak. Yes, they have been incredibly frustrating and inconsistent, but they can turn it around within a blink of an eye, and I truly do believe that. These next 14 games are huge, as it will determine if this team is for real or not.

So it all starts in St. Pete on Monday night. Does this team have what it takes to get that Wild Card spot? I guess we’ll find out.