Even with the Boston Red Sox having lost six of seven entering Thursday night’s matchup against the Baltimore Orioles, they had no movement in ESPN’s latest Major League Baseball Power Rankings.
ESPN’s staff of writers still have the Red Sox ranked in the middle of the pack with them sitting at No. 18, which was the same spot in the previous iteration of the rankings.
This is how ESPN’s Joon Lee explained Boston’s ranking.
“Boston hopped out of the trade deadline by taking two of three games in a strong series against the Astros, followed by losing three of four to the Royals,” Lee wrote. “Meanwhile, Chris Sale broke his wrist on a bike and is out for the season, knocking out a player that the team expected to depend on heading into the postseason. All of this while questions are emerging out of the front office about the direction and vision for the future of the team after Boston sent Christian Vázquez to the Astros while acquiring Tommy Pham and Reese McGuire.”
While Boston traded away a key piece in Vázquez, Pham has been a strong addition to the Red Sox since the club acquired him from the Cincinnati Reds.
In ESPN’s rankings, the Red Sox are sandwiched by the Chicago White Sox (56-55) and Texas Rangers (49-61) while three American League East teams in the New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays are all ranked in the top 10.
Boston entered Thursday with a 54-48 record and sat five games behind the Rays for the third and final playoff spot in the AL Wild Card race.
