Fine, I Believe: The Red Sox Have Finally Broken Me

(AP Photo/Jim Davis)

I give up.

Not on the Red Sox. Apparently, I’m doing the exact opposite now.

I give up on trying to understand them.

I give up on trying to determine whether they are good, bad, average, rebuilding, contending, pretending or just conducting some kind of season-long psychological experiment on the rest of us.

The Boston Red Sox have won 13 games in a row.

Thirteen.

They have not lost a baseball game since June. At least it feels that way. They have swept four consecutive series, climbed back above .500 and turned what looked like another lost summer into something that is becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss. Boston’s 13-game streak is its longest since 1948, which was long before most of us began developing this unhealthy emotional attachment to the team.

So, that’s it.

I surrender.

I am done protecting myself. I am done qualifying every compliment with a warning. I am done looking at the schedule for the next inevitable collapse. I am done saying, “Yes, but…” every time they win another game.

Jump on board. Why not?

At this point, the train is moving too fast to ask where it is going. Just find a seat, hang on to something and try not to think about how ridiculous all of this is.

Not long ago, I was trying to determine which players the Red Sox should trade.

Sonny Gray? Aroldis Chapman? Willson Contreras? Maybe anyone with value who could help build something more dependable in 2027 and beyond?

It was not an unreasonable conversation. The Red Sox were in last place. They were drifting away from relevance. Their season had become a frustrating collection of occasional encouraging moments followed by two or three nights that made you wonder why you bothered watching.

They could sweep the Yankees and make you believe that something had changed, then immediately stumble backward. They could look energized for a week and lifeless for the next one. They could win a dramatic game in the most Red Sox way possible, then lose one because they forgot how to catch, throw or hit with runners in scoring position.

Up and down. Back and forth.

Hope followed by reality, then more hope, then another slap in the face.

I had accepted that this was simply what the 2026 Red Sox were. A team capable of making you feel foolish regardless of which opinion you chose.

Believe in them? Foolish.

Give up on them? Also foolish.

Suggest they should buy at the trade deadline? Reckless.

Suggest they should sell? Hold on, they just swept another team.

There was no correct position because the team kept moving the ground underneath us.

And now they have won 13 straight.

The latest was a 6-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park, completing a four-game sweep of the team that entered the weekend in first place. Sonny Gray gave Boston six innings of one-run baseball, working around four walks and several early threats. Willson Contreras hit a two-run home run. The bullpen handled the final three innings without allowing a run. Tampa Bay went 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

Naturally, the Red Sox scored three runs in the third inning without recording a hit.

Of course they did.

Two walks, a hit batter, a passed ball, a fielder’s choice and a groundout. Three runs. No hits. Just pressure, confusion and a defense that slowly came apart.

That inning might be the perfect representation of what has happened during this streak. The Red Sox are not waiting for everything to be perfect anymore. They are taking whatever the game gives them.

A mistake? Take the extra base.

A walk? Keep the inning moving.

A bad throw? Score.

A struggling pitcher? Make him work.

For much of the season, Boston seemed to require a three-run homer or some other dramatic event to generate offense. Now, they are finding runs in places where there seemingly shouldn’t be any. They are extending innings. They are forcing opponents to make plays. They are doing the annoying little things winning teams do.

And when they do hit the ball out of the park, it’s coming from everywhere.

Wilyer Abreu hit four home runs in two games against Tampa Bay. Four. Jahmai Jones arrived from Detroit and homered in his first Red Sox start. Contreras returned from his suspension and immediately began driving the ball again. Ceddanne Rafaela continues to find ways to impact games offensively, defensively or on the bases.

This no longer feels like one player dragging the entire team forward. It feels like a different person is stepping into the middle of the story every night.

That is what makes a winning streak like this so enjoyable. Eventually, you stop asking how and start wondering who.

Who is going to do it tonight?

Who is going to hit the home run, make the diving catch, escape the bases-loaded situation or produce the weird little ground ball that somehow brings home the winning run?

During a losing streak, every mistake feels fatal. During a winning streak, every mistake feels temporary.

That is where the Red Sox are right now.

Even when they fall behind, there is a sense that the game is not over. Even when the starting pitcher struggles, someone in the bullpen gets the next out. Even when the offense goes quiet, there is the feeling that one swing, one walk or one defensive mistake by the opponent could begin something.

It is confidence, momentum, luck and execution all blended together. There is no formula for it. If there were, every team would simply win 13 games in a row whenever it needed to rescue its season.

The Red Sox have now won 18 of their last 20 games and are 50-48 after spending much of the year buried below .500.

Read that again.

They were approaching the edge of irrelevance. Now, they are discussing playoff positioning and potential trade additions.

That brings us back to Craig Breslow and the trade deadline.

A few weeks ago, the question was what Boston could get for Gray, Chapman or Contreras. Now, trading any of them would probably cause a revolt outside Fenway Park.

Gray is 12-1 and has delivered nine consecutive quality starts. Contreras leads the team in home runs and has been one of its most productive hitters. Chapman has stabilized the ninth inning and converted 21 saves. These are not spare pieces on a drifting team anymore. They are important players on the hottest team in baseball.

So, yes, the direction has changed.

It had to.

The Red Sox should not suddenly empty the farm system for a big name who may or may not fit. Thirteen consecutive wins do not erase every flaw on the roster, and we do not need to pretend this team has transformed into the 1927 Yankees.

But selling now? Breaking this apart now?

No.

You cannot spend years talking about building a sustainable contender, finally find yourself in the middle of something special and then trade away three of the people responsible for it.

The players earned a chance to see where this goes.

Reward them. Help them.

Add a dependable arm. Improve the middle infield if the right deal is available. Strengthen the bullpen so every close game does not become a nightly stress test. Make a move that tells the clubhouse that the front office sees what is happening and believes it is real enough to support.

Not reckless. Not desperate.

Just committed.

Because at some point, an organization has to allow itself to enjoy its own success too.

Maybe the streak ends tomorrow against Baltimore. That is how baseball works. Winning streaks always end, even when they temporarily begin to feel permanent.

But the end of the streak, whenever it comes, does not need to mean the end of the season.

That is the difference now.

The Red Sox have dragged themselves back into the conversation. They have erased the margin for error they wasted during the first few months, but they have also created a reason to keep watching every night.

And really, isn’t that all we wanted?

A reason to care in late July. A reason to check the standings. A reason to become irrationally angry when the lineup is posted. A reason to imagine a meaningful September game at Fenway Park.

A reason to believe, even against our better judgment.

I have spent most of this season waiting for the Red Sox to tell me what they are.

Maybe they already have.

They are inconsistent, unpredictable, occasionally maddening and suddenly impossible to beat.

They might lose five in a row next week. They might make a run at the division. They might secure a wild-card spot. They might make us regret believing again.

I have no idea.

That is the point.

I am officially finished trying to predict where this goes.

Thirteen wins in a row is more than enough evidence that none of us know what is coming next. So I’m done standing on the platform debating whether the train is safe.

I’m getting on.

There is still room. Jump aboard.

Who knows where this thing will end.

Or, the way the Red Sox are playing right now, if it ever will.

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