Red Sox point/counterpoint: Can Sox hang on to reach playoffs?

On Sunday the Red Sox officially entered the final two weeks of the regular season Maintaining their hold on one of the American League s three Wild Cards will be an uphill battle Boston s remaining schedule Athletics at Fenway Park a road trip to Tampa and Toronto and a closing trio at home with the Detroit Tigers is among the most of arduous in Major League Baseball The Herald s Red Sox reporters Gabrielle Starr and Mac Cerullo discuss the tightrope walk ahead Gabrielle Starr I know I ve stated this at least once in one of our previous iterations but this season has absolutely flown by I feel like the All-Star break was five minutes ago but also the Rafael Devers arrangement feels like it was years ago somehow The remaining games will presumably be over in the blink of an eye too but at this moment I can t decide how I think they re going to shake out It s been a challenging stretch for the lineup without Roman Anthony and unlike the Yankees whose remaining four series are against sub- teams the Red Sox have chosen extremely challenging opponents left Do you think they can pull through and get to October Mac Cerullo October Yes I think they have enough of a lead over the Texas Rangers that they should be able to at least stay over the playoff cutline But hosting a playoff series That s looking like a much tougher proposition The Red Sox will need the Yankees to slip up otherwise a three-game set at Yankee Stadium would become the club s best episode scenario If the Red Sox stumble they may be looking at a long flight to Seattle or Houston Related Articles Red Sox tally six in first inning beat Yankees to avoid crushing sweep Talented young Red Sox pitchers settling in amid playoff push Red Sox lineups Garrett Crochet looking to help avert sweep MLB notes Developing down the AL playoff race with two weeks remaining Red Sox place left-hander on injured list recall Chris Murphy The road ahead GS Well let s look at the remaining four opponents and how the Red Sox fared against them previously this year They saw the A s in Sacramento last week and went - with the loss being a winnable tournament small consolation The Sox are - against the Rays but - against the Blue Jays since they last met on June Toronto is - Boston is - When the Sox went to Detroit in mid-May they got swept in three games including a blowout and back-to-back walkoffs MC The good thing about facing Detroit last is that by the time we get to the final weekend they might have already locked up the AL Central title and a bye to the division round They ll possibly want to rest a lot of their starters and at the very least it would make sense for them to either rest Tarik Skubal or limit his workload As for the other series the Red Sox have to beat the A s at home No doubt about that And the Rays They ve had Tampa Bay s number all season so there s no reason why the Red Sox shouldn t go to Toronto in a solid position The AL East is seemingly already out of reach but who knows If the Red Sox can sweep that series and get a little help there is still a path GS The Red Sox may have had the Rays number all season but that s exactly the type of situation that worries me they were - against the Yankees before this weekend and the first two games were an unmitigated mishap They ve also struggled against more than a limited bad teams and lost a few very winnable games so even though they should be able to beat the A s I m not going to write this series off The offense or lack thereof since Anthony s injury is a big reason why They entered Sunday hitting with a OPS in nine games since he went down and though they staved off a Yankees sweep on Sunday night they scored all six of their runs in the first inning and left six men on base in the remaining eight MC Anthony s injury came at a horrible time but the Red Sox should at least get Wilyer Abreu back later this week That will help a lot Pitching difficulty MC Obviously the Red Sox won t get anywhere if they can t hit but their pitching situation will warrant close watching down the stretch On Monday the club released that Connelly Early will get the ball on Tuesday Lucas Giolito on Wednesday and Brayan Bello on Thursday One would imagine Garrett Crochet will pitch over the weekend in Tampa but beyond that the club is going to have to piece things together for at least five of their last games Do you think Early Payton Tolle and Kyle Harrison will be up to the task GS Early s big-league debut against the A s was historically spectacular but I expect them to be significantly more prepared for him the second time around Tolle s debut was great as well but he s been hit hard and struck out only four batters over the two outings since neither of which lasted longer than three innings Of the three Harrison has the preponderance big-league experience by far He may have made his Red Sox debut out of the bullpen but I expect him to make at least one start especially since Bello has struggled in his last three games if the Sox can find a way to give him extra rest they will It s clear the Red Sox pitching depth is much stronger than it was last year The question is do they have enough quality to get them where they want to go or is it just quantity MC It s honestly kind of amazing the Red Sox are even in the conversation considering how a large number of injuries they ve sustained on the pitching staff Tanner Houck Kutter Crawford Richard Fitts Hunter Dobbins Cooper Criswell If any of those guys were healthy and effective imagine what a difference they could have made And that isn t even factoring in Patrick Sandoval who won t make it back in time from Tommy John surgery Dustin May who underperformed before getting hurt or Walker Buehler who flat out didn t work out That the club still has players of Early Tolle and Harrison s caliber available to help get them across the finish line is a luxury but the Red Sox are asking a lot of them GS Hopefully they can meet the moment Prediction time GS Give me your prediction for these last two weeks Will we have our first Red October since or end up on the outside looking in again MC It may be stressful at times but I think they ll get it done Put me down for the Red Sox finishing - good for the second Wild Card and a trip to Yankee Stadium on Sept GS I m a bit more cautious so I m guesstimating - Here s hoping the best rivalry in baseball goes back to October