Nobody was talking playoffs in Boston a few weeks ago. The Red Sox bottomed out at 29-43 on June 18, a mark so bad that no team in MLB history had ever made the postseason after digging a hole that deep. Fast forward to the All-Star break and the Sox just capped a perfect 9-0 road trip, sweeping the Angels, White Sox and Mets in a row and pushing their win streak to 9 straight.
The finale in Queens was the kind of game that makes a streak feel like fate. Boston trailed 2-0 into the 9th against Devin Williams before the Sox tied it late, and Frank Fleming, watching as a miserable Mets fan, was already sounding the alarm before the wheels came off.
Devon Williams fucking sucks All Sterns signed were fuckingg Brewer bums
Then Rafael Devers (well, Duran, per the call in real time) delivered the blow that flipped the game, tying it in the 9th before Boston finished the job in extras. It's the exact kind of comeback that's defined this stretch — the Sox haven't just been winning, they've been winning from behind.
THE RED SOX TIE IT IN THE 9TH
The Mets, for their part, had a chance to end it clean. Francisco Lindor had a shot at a game-ending double play that would've sent everyone home, but the Mets couldn't turn it, and Boston made them pay in extras. It's a gut-punch way to close the first half for a team that's now watching the Red Sox surge past them in the standings conversation.
Francisco Lindor had a chance at a game-ending double play ...The Mets lost in extra innings
Zoom out and the numbers are almost hard to believe. Boston has now won 14 of its last 16 games and sits at 46-48, just a half-game out of the final AL Wild Card spot. This is only the second 9-0 road trip in franchise history — the last one came in 1977. A team that looked like a trade-deadline seller a month ago is suddenly a buyer's conversation, and the outlets covering the Sox are framing it as one of the more improbable turnarounds of the season.
"Miraculous" The Left For Dead Boston Red Sox Have Picked Up 12 Games In Less Than Three Weeks And Somehow Sit Just A Half Game Out Of A Playoff Spot @MikeMutnansky
Dave Portnoy wasn't holding back once the final out landed, practically demanding the league push the All-Star break back so the Sox could keep the streak alive. It's the kind of reaction that sums up where Red Sox Twitter is right now — nobody expected this team to be must-watch baseball in mid-July, and now they can't look away.
DOWN 2-0 HEADING INTO THE 9th! DOES NOT MATTER!!! 🧹🧹🧹🧹 9 IN A ROW!!!! POSTPONE THE ALLSTAR BREAK!!! #162er #9inarow #dirtywater
The break gives Boston a chance to exhale, but the second half starts with real stakes now. A team that was buried in late June walks into the deadline as a legitimate playoff contender, and every win from here changes what the front office does before it. The Mets, meanwhile, limp into the break on the wrong end of the sweep, wondering how a series with multiple ninth-inning chances slipped away entirely.