The Boston Barometer: Volume 17
Another incredible week of baseball has the Red Sox in a prime position with the trade deadline approaching.
There is no hotter team in baseball than the Boston Red Sox. They are on a historic run as they swept the Tampa Bay Rays in a massive 4-game series. The Red Sox are now on a 13-game winning streak, their longest since 1948. They have also won 18 of their last 20 games. This stretch of baseball has been a season saving stretch.
Out Rays the Rays
Earlier this season when the Red Sox faced the Rays, they did not look like they belonged on the same field. The Rays dominated the Red Sox in every facet of the game winning 5 of the first 6 games. The amount of times the Rays safety squeezed and scored an easy run was beyond deflating. However, in this series, the script was flipped.
The Red Sox won 4 baseball games in different ways. They outslugged the Rays as they hit 9 home runs in the 4 games. The Red Sox took a play out of Rays playbook in game 1. On consecutive plays, they safety squeezed a run in and made the Rays defense look bad. Boston had a crazy comeback in game 3 as they finally came back from a 3-run deficit, something they hadn’t done all season. And in game 4, they took advantage of the Rays pitching and defense scoring 3 runs in an inning without recording a hit. Throughout the entire series, the Red Sox pitching was excellent. For once, the Red Sox “Out Rays” the Rays.
Beating the top teams in the AL
Some may point out that on this great stretch the Red Sox took advantage of a bad Angels team and a bad Mets team. While that may be true, they also swept the Yankees, White Sox, and Rays, who have the 3 best records in the American League. When you start to talk about the Trade Deadline and how aggressive the Red Sox should be, this stretch should influence their decision. After just playing the league’s best, why would you not add to this group after dominating the best the league has to offer.
Obviously, you are never as good as your hottest stretch of baseball. However, after beating those top 3 teams, the Red Sox should not be scared. They should be motivated to improve the roster and try and build a roster that can contend in October. As everyone has said all season long, the American League is wide open. Go take it.
Chad Tracy
The Red Sox interim manager has been legitimately coaching for his job. With no guarantees past this season, Tracy needs to perform if he wants to keep this tremendous opportunity. While things did not go well initially, Tracy was a steady presence and weathered the storm. Thanks to this hot stretch, the Red Sox are now 40-31 under Tracy.
While Craig Breslow and the Red Sox will likely wait until the end of the season, if they announced tomorrow that the interim tag was removed and he is the permanent manager, I would be pumped. I have seen enough to believe he is the guy to lead this organization moving forward. Tracy has shown that he will not panic when times get chaotic and that he can lift up a struggling team from the ashes. I don’t think many would object to the fact that this current Red Sox team is lacking talent. I would like to see what Chad Tracy can do with an extremely talented roster and his 2 best players in Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony.
Innings Limits
The Red Sox rotation has been put to the test and they have responded incredibly. There’s been no Garrett Crochet for 3 months. Ranger Suarez and Connelly Early have missed time. Brayan Bello was sent to the Triple-A and the bullpen. Despite all of that, they have the eighth best starting rotation ERA. Since June 1st, they have the third best starting rotation ERA.
The concern with this rotation is the innings limits that will likely affect a lot of the rotation. Jake Bennett, who has been one of baseball’s best pitchers over the last month, has 92 innings between the Red Sox and Worcester. His career high in innings pitched in professional ball prior to this season was 75. The velocity drop was evident in Bennett’s strong start on Friday. Payton Tolle has pitched 99 innings between the Red Sox and Worcester. Tolle threw 91 innings last season between 3 levels. While Early is currently hurt, he is at 91 innings this season. The most he has ever thrown is 103 in 2024.
A huge part of the success of this insane winning streak and run by the Red Sox is the starting pitching. My question for the final two and a half months is how sustainable is it. If the pitchers that they are relying on are going to be on innings limits or strict pitch counts, can they consistently continue to win moving forward? It appears that Garrett Crochet is not coming back anytime soon. He is not even throwing a baseball. September is the best case scenario for Crochet.
The Red Sox do not know what they will get from Patrick Sandoval. Brayan Bello will likely play a significant role on this team whether it be in the rotation or piggy backing starts with the rookie arms. Currently, the Red Sox have too many starters but nobody knows exactly how many innings the rookie pitchers will be allowed to pitch. It’s something to monitor closely as we get deeper into the second half.
Up Next
While the Red Sox just got a massive result taking 4 games from the division leading Rays, they cannot sit back and relax. Boston has a big 3-game series starting Monday against the Baltimore Orioles, who are coming in on a 7-game winning streak. The Orioles are closing in on .500 (49-51) and will be motivated to keep their hot streak going. After the Orioles, the Red Sox finish their home stand with 3 games against the Toronto Blue Jays. It’s a huge week for this Red Sox team as they have two series against division opponents that are chasing them in the Wild Card standings.
One thing to watch this week is the Red Sox could tie the franchise record for the most consecutive wins on Tuesday night with 15. They would tie the 1948 team. This Red Sox team is playing with a ton of confidence and are finally winning at Fenway Park (8-2 in their last 10). Can they keep up this hot stretch and inch closer to the top 2 teams in the Wild Card race and the division leading Rays?