It truly has been a roller-coaster season for the Boston Red Sox thus far.
The reigning World Series champions were on a fast track to disaster to start the season but managed to turn things around with a largely successful May. Following Sunday’s win over the Houston Astros, the Red Sox sit at 28-25 on the campaign and are 6 1/2 games back of the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East.
So, what will Boston’s record look like at the conclusion of the regular season? Major League Baseball insiders Buster Olney, Jeff Passan and Sam Miller cast their predictions in a column published to ESPN on Sunday.
From ESPN:
Olney:Â Ninety-four. They are gathering momentum, and it seems like they’ll continue to get better as the summer plays out. Given what’s at stake for this group — the opportunity to become the first team in almost two decades to win back-to-back titles — I’d expect Dave Dombrowski will do his thing and work to improve the bullpen before the deadline.
Passan:Â Let’s go with 89. To get there, the Red Sox would need to play at a .554 pace the rest of the season, which seems fairly reasonable. They still have 17 games against a superior Yankees team and 14 against Tampa Bay. Although their May has proved an unequivocal success and propelled them back into the playoff race, the Red Sox’s depth is questionable, their starting pitching is iffy, and their bullpen is outpitching its peripherals to the point that regression is inevitable.
Miller: I think this is something like a 95-win team, so applying that to the rest of the season gets them to 92 or 93. Of course, an injury to Chris Sale would be devastating (as we saw early this year, when Sale was, effectively, pitching like his hypothetical replacement). But on the flip side, we should expect to see the Red Sox land a pretty substantial piece at the trade deadline.
Mid- to low-90s seems like a fair prediction for the Red Sox at this point. And even if that mark isn’t enough to win a fourth consecutive division crown, it’s tough to any team would want to meet Boston in the playoffs should it claim a Wild Card spot.
That said, taking part in the play-in game surely isn’t on the Red Sox’s minds. There’s quite a bit of baseball left to be played, and the race for the AL East title still is very much open.
