Red Sox Still Cannot Cash In On Advantageous American League Trend

The Boston Red Sox lost their fourth straight game on Tuesday night in a 7-2 defeat at the hands of the New York Mets. The struggles are frustrating enough for Boston. It only gets worse knowing how much the ballclub could be helping itself.

The Red Sox look up at the Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals in the American League playoff picture. Both of those AL Central clubs have also gone cold in recent days. The Royals fell to the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday while the Twins dropped their contest against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Minnesota is 4-6 in its last 10 games while Kansas City sits at just 3-7. That can be looked at one of two ways for the Red Sox. They can be grateful to be just 4 1/2 games back of a playoff spot. They could also be frustrated to have not gained ground amid the struggles of the two teams they are chasing.

Boston is fortunate to still have some semblance of a chance given its own recent skid, but that's the reality of the current state of the wild-card race in the American League: the Red Sox can put themselves right back in the race. But that has to start with improved play from themselves before any conversations go any further about their October ambitions.

The Red Sox currently trail the Royals directly, though the series that could and likely will be the most impactful comes in two weeks when the Twins visit Fenway Park for a three-game weekend series from Sept. 20-22. If the Red Sox can stay within, let's say three games until then, they'll still have a chance. With that said, that's far from a given down the stretch.

Ultimately, the players have to respond.

"Personally, I think we still got a chance," Kutter Crawford told reporters, per NESN's postgame coverage. "If we can get on a five-game winning streak, we're right back in it. We're showing up to the yard every day still trying to compete and win every single ballgame."

The Red Sox wrap up the series against the Mets on Wednesday night before hosting the MLB-worst Chicago White Sox for three games this weekend at Fenway Park.