Contender Or Pretender? Red Sox Have Test Coming In Road Trip

BOSTON — Do you have mixed feelings on the current state of the Red Sox?

Don’t worry, you’ll either be all in on them by the end of their upcoming road trip, or you’ll be even more confused than before.

Alex Cora’s bunch is about to enter a brutal stretch, as they’ll head out to take on the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves over the next five days. You know, the team that hasn’t lost in almost two weeks and perhaps the best lineup in all of baseball.

It would be quite the challenge for anyone, but as Boston navigates injuries, we would imagine it’d prefer to push this stretch off until later in the season. The Red Sox don’t have that luxury, though, and feel they’re prepared for whatever lies ahead.

“It’s nothing new for us,” Cora said following Thursday’s loss to the San Francisco Giants. “In the beginning it was the West Coast, then the challenge of Cleveland and Pittsburgh. It’s a challenge on a daily basis. We’ll play tomorrow, see where it takes us, do the same thing Saturday and Sunday and Monday on.”

The Red Sox have found success against lesser opponents, but the last week or so proved they could beat division contenders. You don’t win back-to-back series against the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants by accident.

“You obviously want to compete against the best all the time,” Tyler O’Neill said. “Minnesota had a good year last year, and they’ve got a lot of talent over there. I haven’t done my scouting on them yet, we’ll get to that tomorrow, but we’re ready for a dogfight.”

Boston has a team full of believers, so its perception of what is possible won’t change because of a five-game stretch.

“We believed in ourselves in spring training,” O’Neill said. “I don’t really listen to what anyone says.”