Boston Red Sox
“I’m gonna stick with my notion that they do not make the playoffs, that they have this incredible run, and over the last six weeks they have some bumps.”
The Boston Red Sox have been the talk of the baseball world since the beginning of July when they embarked on an improbable 15-game winning streak.
On top of that, the club just snapped another significant streak of victories on Saturday. They had won nine straight before falling to the Athletics 7-3, and have won 32 of their last 38 contests.
The Red Sox remain the hottest team in MLB, and have achieved some remarkable stats since turning their season around a full 180 degrees.
For example, Boston became the first team in MLB, NBA, and NHL history to win 26-plus games in a 29-game stretch while entering the span 10-plus games below .500 after Thursday’s win.
If that isn’t wild enough, following Friday’s victory, the Red Sox were an MLB-best 27-3 (.900) since July 3, and 32-5 (.865) since June 25, each the respective best 30-game and 37-game spans in franchise history.
Not all that long ago, Boston was dead-last in the American League and was on pace to be one of the worst teams in franchise history record-wise.
What was once a completely incapable offense from top to bottom seemingly became the hottest group of hitters the Red Sox have seen this decade.
Even still, Boston has its doubters.
Longtime sports analyst Rob Parker isn’t convinced the Red Sox can continue playing at the high level they’ve played at for the last month and change.
“I respect the winning. I just don’t think they can keep it up,” Parker told Brian Kenny on MLB Network on Friday. “It’s impossible in baseball. They’ve done all of this to climb out of a hole. They’re in the mix now, whatever. One bad week can send this thing going the other way. They can’t keep winning at this clip.”
Kenny defended Boston and mentioned Parker previously said he didn’t think the Sox would reach the playoffs in 2026.
“No one can win at this clip. However, they’re a playoff team”, Kenny said. “You said they’re not a playoff team when they were down and out. Look, I don’t know if I’d even fought you much on it. … They’re in the playoffs, Rob. They’re making the playoffs.”
After Kenny allowed Parker the opportunity to change his mind about Boston’s postseason hopes, Parker doubled down and told Kenny to save the footage of him proclaiming the club’s future demise.
“I’m gonna stick with my notion that they do not make the playoffs, that they have this incredible run, and over the last six weeks they have some bumps,” Parker said. “They come back to Earth and they do not make the playoffs. And save this tape, BK.”
Once again, Kenny left room for Parker to come around. He declined.
“They might win the division, Rob. How about that?”
“I’m not buying that. I do not buy it.”
Following the Red Sox’ loss to the Athletics on Saturday, FanGraphs has their playoff chances at 96 percent. The site has the club’s odds of clinching a wild-card spot at 83.4 percent and their chances of winning the A.L. East at 12.6 percent.
Boston, whose record is 64-52, has firm possession of the A.L.’s second wild-card spot. It’s not far behind the New York Yankees — the Sox’ division foe has just a 1.5-game cushion in the first wild-card.
Given those numbers, it would likely take a catastrophic fall from grace for Boston to miss the playoffs in 2026, not just “some bumps” down the stretch.
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