Red Sox officially eliminated from postseason contention

Red Sox

After a disappointing showing at the trade deadline, the Red Sox have gone 18-28 since Aug. 1.

For the fourth time in the last five years, the Red Sox are going to be on the outside looking in at meaningful baseball in October.

Boston was officially eliminated from postseason contention on Wednesday evening, with the Sox now knocked out of the playoff picture for the second straight year.

Boston was pushed to the brink following its 15-5 loss to the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon, with the knockout punch delivered a few hours later after the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Yankees, 6-1.

The Red Sox’ fate comes as little surprise after a sustained slide down the standings over the last few months.

Entering the trade deadline at 57-50 and firmly in the AL Wild Card race, Boston lost steam after the team largely stood pat and didn’t acquire any impact players to bolster the roster, even with evident flaws present across the diamond. 

Eventually, a banged-up starting rotation and beleaguered bullpen finally started to run out of gas, with Boston now 18-28 since Aug. 1. Boston currently sits in last place in the AL East with a record of 75-78, and have now lost 12 of its last 15 games.

Boston has just nine more games left on their schedule this season, with a pivotal offseason on the horizon.

Beyond the franchise’s search for a new top baseball executive following Chaim Bloom’s firing, the Red Sox have plenty of work to do when it comes to reconstructing a flawed roster at the big-league level. 

“There’s a lot of things that we have to work [on],” Alex Cora told WEEI’s “Gresh and Fauria” show on Wednesday. “The offseason got more interesting, right? And more important. We gotta make a decision as an organization. Who’s gonna run this club and then after that, we have to improve in a lot of areas, as far as the big league roster.

“There’s a lot of good things that are happening. There’s a lot of good things that are happening in player development. But at the end of the day, as you guys know, up here is where it really counts. And the last few years we haven’t done a good job putting this team to the next level. … We have to improve in a lot of things.”