The Red Sox have player 85 games. They have 77 games remaining until the end of the season. But the real end of the season might just be the trade deadline.
In that respect, they have just 33 days remaining. That’s only 26 games. Sitting at 37-48, the Red Sox have some work to do to decide how they want to handle things. Is Sonny Gray available? Or Aroldis Chapman? Both? Are they in the market for a right-handed bat? Probably yes regardless of their playoff hopes.
In their favor for the season, the Yankees are in the midst of a 7-game losing streak. The Blue Jays just lost 5 straight – tied with the Sox’ (and Orioles’) longest losing streak of the year. The Rays longest losing streak is 4.
There are 8 series between now and the last day to make a move. There’s a short west coast trip to see the Angels and the White Sox and Mets on the way back east. Each of those is a 3-game series.
After the All-Star Break the Sox host the Rays (4 games), Orioles (3 games), and Blue Jays (3 games).
Then it’s back to the West Coast for 7 more games: 4 against the Athletics and 3 against the Dodgers.
Right now the Rays are leading the AL East with the Yankees 3.0 games back, the Jays 10.5, Orioles 12.0, and Red Sox 13.5 behind.
Caleb Durbin has 7 home runs while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has just 4. Durbin’s 6 June homers is the highest 1-month total for any month in his 2-year career. Vlad’s total is, of course, more of an aberration and as he will not reach free agency until 2040, the Jays have to hope he can uncover some Durbin-esque pop. He averages 29 home runs per 162 games. That’s 25 home runs in the remaining 3 months of the season. He’s currently on pace for just 8. With 75 games to go, Vlad needs a home run every 3 games instead of every 5.5. That’s a big power surge even for him, just to hit his average. To hit last year’s total of 23 that’s still a home run every 4 games. To reach his high of 11 home runs form 2025, Caleb Durbin needs 4 home runs in 3 months.
Jarren Duran has had a miserable season. But power-wise he has 12 homers and needs 4 to match his 2025 total. And just 9 – 3 per month – to reach his career high of 21 again. There was some worry about 20-homer power on the team and Willson Contreras is already at 18 dingers at around the halfway point. If only he had a little more help…
Remember the Jays being on a losing streak? Well, they took 2-out-3 against the Mets.
Even as the Red Sox look bad, the Mets are a notch worse. And they invested almost a billion dollars in their team with Juan Soto alone. The Mets have lost 51 games forming a club with the Angels, Giants, and Rockies as first to 50 losses this year. Of note, the Mets and Angels are 2 teams on the upcoming road trip. If there are any games to win, these 6 are top among them. And the Rockies won 2 games only through bullpen collapses that aren’t guaranteed. There was also a personal change at shortstop after some misplays by Marcelo Mayer.
Because the Red Sox are off on Monday, August 3 – along with many but not all teams, for example the Rays and Rockies will be playing – there won’t be any dramatics mid-game. If Aroldis Chapman is still on the team, the hugwatch will not be literally at the deadline. It might happen on August 2 if he’s still in the ‘pen at that point, assuming there was not a tremendous winning streak by the Sox to be solidly holding a playoff spot at the time. After all, he might as well get in the goodbye hugs.
That’s it.
That’s the entire road to the deadline.
