Three weeks ago the Red Sox were a team getting measured for a teardown. Sitting 14 games under .500 on June 24 with the August 3 trade deadline looming, the conversation in Boston was about who gets shipped out, not who's chasing October. Instead the Sox ripped off 16 wins in their last 18 games, and Friday's doubleheader sweep of the Rays pushed the winning streak to 11 straight and the record all the way back to .500 for the first time since March.
Boston pouring it on the Rays at Fenway during the streak, with a runner sliding in safe and a lopsided lead on the board.
It's the first 11-game win streak this club has put together since September 2016, and it's coming from everywhere. Wilyer Abreu has been a one-man wrecking crew, going deep twice in Friday's finale, and his 13th homer of the season got the celebration going before Boston tacked on more.
Wilyer Abreu rounding the bases on his 13th homer of the year as the dugout erupts.
Then there's Willson Contreras, who's been the emotional center of this run. He came back from a five-game suspension and the Sox went 5-0 without him, so naturally he made sure the streak didn't skip a beat — belting his 21st homer of the season and giving Fenway another reason to lose its mind.
The Fenway bleachers erupting as the scoreboard confirms Contreras' 21st home run of the year.
Not every long ball at Fenway this weekend belonged to the home team — Rays rookie Junior Caminero got in on the fun too, launching one 406 feet at 111.6 mph off the bat, the kind of swing that reminds everyone why Tampa Bay isn't just rolling over for a sweep.
Dave Portnoy has been living and dying with this team all season, and he wasn't shy about it once the streak hit double digits. After win No. 10 he was already calling it World Series or bust, and by the time the sweep was complete and Boston hit .500, he was crowing that he never doubted a team that looked dead in the water a month ago.
Portnoy's reaction to the sweep completing the 11-game streak and pulling Boston back to .500.
The bigger question now is what this does to the front office's plans heading into August 3. A team that looked like a clear seller three weeks ago is suddenly a .500 club riding the hottest streak in a decade, and that changes every conversation about who stays and who gets moved. For now, Boston just has to keep winning and let the deadline sort itself out.