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| The Red Sox and Jon Lester face a crucial couple of weeks ahead |
We could argue back and forth for days on end as to whether
the Boston Red Sox can make the playoffs in 2014, and that argument would
probably not even take into account another question which is, should they make
the playoffs, how far can this team progress? What we can do, however, is look
closely at the upcoming schedule and see if there are any indicators if the Sox
will keep this current good streak up.
When you look at the next few weeks you notice one thing
instantly. The Red Sox chances in climbing back into the race for the AL East
hinge essentially on their next batch of games, which are basically all against
foes from within their division. The Al East itself probably won’t be decided
in the next few weeks, however the Red Sox chances of taking same will
definitely be decided in that period.
That of course means we will know by then if the Sox will
make the playoffs or not, as due to other teams great records, and the
relatively poor records in the AL East, the winner of the latter is probably
the only team from that division going to the playoffs.
The AL wildcard spots will most likely come from other
divisions.
And so to Boston’s forthcoming schedule.
The next 13 games the Sox play will all be against AL east
opponents. Come August 5th when they travel to St Louis, the Sox will know
realistically if they are in with a shot at the East, or if they may as well
start planning for 2015. Boston is 7.5 games out of first right now, and 4.5
behind Toronto. Guess who they play 7 times in the next 10 games? That’s right,
The Blue Jays. Boston can either clamber over the Jays or get lost behind them
over the next 2 weeks. The other 6 games are 3 against the Rays and 3 against
New York.
This is an absolutely crucial section of the schedule for
the Sox, and will find out an awful lot about their 2014 chances by the time
Boston flies out to St Louis on August 5th.
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