The Red Sox‘s playoff situation in the AL East was, only 11 days ago, a very comfortable one. They were 81-65, a game behind the Yankees in the chase for the top wild-card position and well ahead of the Rangers (5.0 games) and Guardians (6.0 games), who were the first teams out of the race.
But Cleveland has caught fire, with eight straight wins and 13 out of 14, while the Red Sox have struggled to cope with injuries, particularly to rookie leadoff man Roman Anthony. The Red Sox have lost five of eight games, and now are tied for the No. 3 wild-card spot just 1.5 games ahead of Cleveland, meaning Boston is facing elimination from the playoffs in these final days of the season.
Slugger Alex Bregman, though, has a very different view. He’s not only confident that Boston will reach the postseason–he expects this team to do damage when it gets there.
Alex Bregman: Struggles ‘Could Be a Really Good Thing’
Speaking after the Red Sox beat the Rays, 11-7, on Friday, Bregman put a different twist on the team’s struggles. They could be beneficial for Boston, actually, during the playoffs, when things can go sour but you’ve still got to find a way to win. And Bregman made clear the expects the Red Sox to be in the postseason mix.
“It could be great,” Bregman said. “Obviously the last few games hadn’t been going our way, felt like we hadn’t really done much. I was saying earlier that it could actually be a really good thing going forward …
“I feel like our mentality here is we don’t want to just get into the playoffs, we want to play well in the playoffs and play for another month. For us, I feel like, getting back to playing our best baseball, our best brand of baseball on a consistent basis is super-important. That’s why I feel like the last few days could be good for us, we could learn a lot from it. And I feel like this team is ready to roll.”
Red Sox Getting Wilyer Abreu Back
The big issue for the Red Sox has been the wildly inconsistent offense, which broke out with seven runs in the eighth inning at Fenway. Bregman said the team had much better at-bats on Friday and will need to carry that forward for the remainder of the weekend and into the final week of the year.
Getty ImagesWilyer Abreu #52 of the Boston Red Sox
There could be some help on that front. The Red Sox are finally getting outfielder Wilyer Abreu back from a calf injury he suffered last month. Abreu figures to be rusty, but he was hitting .253 with 22 homers when he went out.
Abreu is joining the Red Sox in Tampa this weekend. “We’ll decide what we’re going to do,” manager Alex Cora said of the timing of a potential activation of Abreu.
Red Sox’s Bregman Makes Bold Postseason Statement