The Boston Red Sox schedule offers the team a chance to fulfil the promise it displayed in the first half of the season.
MLB.com on Thursday ranked Boston's remaining schedule the fifth-easiest of the 17 teams that are in contention for spots in the 2021 Major League Baseball playoffs.
The Red Sox's opponents have a .493 average win percentage, and Boston has a 73.7% chance of reaching the postseason, according to the FanGraphs formula MLB.com cites. Among American League teams in the running, only the Chicago White Sox have an easier schedule than Boston.
As of Thursday morning, the Red Sox trail the Tampa Bay Rays by nine games for the AL East lead. The Red Sox occupy the AL's second wild card spot, holding leads of two, 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 games over the Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays respectively.
MLB.com's Matt Kelly notes a few key series the Red Sox will play this month.
"An AL East lead that Boston held as late as July 30 may have slipped away for good, though the Sox do get a crack at the Rays (Thursday) and next week at Fenway Park," Kelly wrote. "Arguably bigger series loom against fellow Wild Card competitors in the Mariners (Sept. 13-15 in Seattle) and Yankees (Sept. 24-26 at home)."
After the Red Sox play those key series against the Mariners and Yankees, they'll finish their regular-season schedule with sets against the lowly Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals. ESPN's Jeff Passan last month described those matchups as the "pot of gold" at the end of the Red Sox schedule, giving Boston a good chance to claim a postseason spot in the last week of the season.
Boston is 21-23 since the All-Star break, with its downturn in fortunes causing angst throughout Red Sox Nation. However, the Red Sox schedule still presents opportunity to right the ship and enter the postseason on a high.
