Bleacher Report makes hopeful Red Sox prediction in the wake of managerial firings

A rough first two weeks of the Boston Red Sox put a sour note on the hopes for the playoffs. An Opening Day win was followed by a five-game losing streak, and a three-game losing streak separated by one win. They were 2-8 coming out of the first 10 games.

Since then, Boston has been much closer to a .500 team. That 30-game stretch has included getting swept by the Yankees and sweeping the Tigers. They also fired manager Alex Cora less than a month into the season. The team is now in the hands of interim manager Chad Tracy, who has seemed to stabilize the lineup and keep things level in his early tenure.

Despite the Sox continually sitting around five games under .500, the playoffs are still very much in reach, and Bleacher Report agrees. In a “10 MLB Hot Takes” piece by Kerry Miller, they placed the Sox making the postseason at a light spice level. 

Miller cited three reasons the Red Sox fans shouldn't be closing the book on their postseason hopes. The first, and probably biggest reason, is the lackluster American League. Forty games into the season, only two teams, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, have any real standing in the (very early) AL playoff picture. Everybody else is within four games of a wildcard spot. As of May 13, the Baltimore Orioles, the team in the second Wild Card spot, are 20-24. The league is wide open, meaning any hot stretch by the Sox will put them squarely in the playoff picture.

The second reason was the lineup evening out. Miller highlighted Caleb Durbin and Marcelo Mayer's recent turnarounds, but as a whole, the team is starting to regress to the mean. In the last 15 days, Boston's offense has been back to being a top 15 team in batting average and on-base percentage. While slugging is still 21st, it's much better than it was to start the season.

There are still reasons for Red Sox Nation to be hopeful after rough offensive start

This team wasn't built with hitting at the forefront, but it was never going to be a bottom-five offense across the entire season. As long as they can consistently stay in the middle of the pack, the pitching and defense can pull them to October.

Miller's final reason was health, more specifically, getting players healthy. So far, the Sox have lost Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Ranger Suarez, and Roman Anthony for some time due to injury. The MLB season is long and arduous. Injuries are going to happen to every ball club, but the Red Sox have been hit particularly hard in the first quarter of the season. Health is certainly not guaranteed, but hopefully getting some of the bad injury luck out of the way early may mean players stay healthy for a late postseason push.

The season is just getting started for the Red Sox. It was a rocky start, but hopefully the team will settle in from here. While Miller may be calling it a "hot take" to say Boston will make the postseason, it really shouldn't be for a team that went 61-41 from June on in 2025. The Sox will hit their stride, and the postseason is certainly still on the table.

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