BOSTON — Alex Cora sees the potential in his Red Sox team that’s won four consecutive series and could make it five on Wednesday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Boston controls the final playoff spot in the American League with June winding down. The Red Sox only trail the Minnesota Twins by half a game for the second wild-card position and are still getting healthier as they prepare for the eventual return of slugger Triston Casas.
From climbing the standings to positioning themselves to have the chance to be aggressive at the trade deadline, Cora wants to see the Red Sox maintain the intensity and stay hungry in their climb.
“We’ll see what happens in a month or a month and a half,” Cora told reporters. “We just gotta keep playing better baseball. I know we’ve been talking about the wild card and all of that stuff. Let’s get greedy. There’s teams ahead of us. They’re not playing good baseball. I know for probably one of them, it’s only for five days. There’s more out there. I think this brand of baseball, we can maintain the way we’re playing. Let’s not settle for the third wild card. Let’s go higher and see where the season takes us.”
Boston largely stayed put regarding big-league additions at the last two trade deadlines. Cora believes creating a different scenario is dependent on the Red Sox rising to the occasion and challenge other contenders in the American League.
Cora’s right about teams in front of them declining in recent weeks. In the division, the Red Sox trail the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees. The Orioles have lost five straight games while the Yankees are just 3-7 in their last 10.
As previously noted, there’s a scenario for the Red Sox to jump the Twins in the playoff standings by the end of the night on Wednesday.
Boston keeps improving and now has a chance to strike in several ways in the coming weeks. Ultimately, that comes down to the Red Sox staying on schedule.
