The Boston Red Sox are playing some good baseball of late, but the Tampa Bay Rays have taken over the top spot in the American League East after going off for 11 straight wins, pushing Boston to second place for the first time in 44 days.
Still, there's much to be optimistic about, and they're ranked pretty high in this week's power rankings from MLB.com. In fact, they stayed steady at the No. 2 spot.
Here's why, per MLB.com's Alyson Footer.
The Red Sox, 7-3 over their past 10 games, were scoring more than six runs per game and led all of baseball in runs scored and slugging heading into their finale with the Phillies on Sunday, a 6-2 loss. Xander Bogaerts, who was off Sunday, continues to be a force. He leads the Sox with a .345 average and 1.005 OPS, and he’s slashing .394/.447/.758 over his past nine games.
The offense does seem to be clicking, and Bogaerts continues to impress day in and day out. He also leads the AL in hits, is second in batting average and third in OPS.
While there's still question marks and nothing is perfect, there's plenty to like about this team and what they could do moving forward.
The Red Sox return home to welcome the Atlanta Braves to Fenway Park for a two-game set beginning Tuesday night. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.
