TORONTO — The inevitable became reality on Wednesday night in Toronto.
With Kansas City winning earlier in the day, the Boston Red Sox needed a victory to keep their meager playoff hopes alive. Instead, they fell 6-1 in Game 159 to the Blue Jays, and with the loss, the Red Sox were eliminated from postseason contention.
“At one point it felt like we were a playoff-caliber team, and then we missed the opportunity, let’s put it that way,” manager Alex Cora said.” You look around, you look at the teams that are fighting, we had it right there and we blew it.”
With a doubleheader sweep on Sunday and wins in the first two games in Toronto, the Red Sox had amassed their longest winning streak since early July and did so without Rafael Devers and Kenley Jansen. With Kansas City and Minnesota struggling to secure wins in a tumultuous wild-card race, the Red Sox, even with their own subpar play in September, had plenty of chances to take control.
Instead, they faded down the stretch. The Red Sox entered the All-Star break 11 games over .500 at 53-43. Their loss Wednesday dropped them to 27-36 in the second half.
Cora lamented their inability to capitalize on an open wild card race.
“Look at the Tigers, what they’ve done,” he said. “They took advantage. They played good baseball, they pitched all the way until the end. And then they got some pieces back, and they’re swinging the bat well. In this game, you have to take advantage of opportunities, you’ve got to be consistent.
“We’ll talk about it next week (when the season is over), but I think since the All-Star break, we were very inconsistent. When we hit, we didn’t pitch. When we pitched, we didn’t hit. I think the defense got better when Trevor (Story) got back. No coincidence that we started pitching better. But overall, since (the series in) Los Angeles, we never got it going.”
Earlier in the day, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow offered a similar tone of frustration at a failed attempt to break a postseason drought that is now three seasons.
“I think we play these games to make it to the postseason, win the World Series,” Breslow said. “And so falling short of that, it should be a disappointment. I want it to be a disappointment. I want it to hurt.”
The clubhouse was quiet as players packed their bags for the flight home, but Jarren Duran spun an optimistic tone, noting the lack of belief in the club throughout the year.
“I’m proud of what this club was able to do and what we accomplished,” he said. “I mean, it’s a good building block for the next year.”
There will be plenty of time to rehash what went wrong and why over the next few weeks, but the Red Sox still have three games to play this weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays.
On Friday, perhaps fittingly, the Red Sox will honor their minor-league players of the year in an on-field ceremony, as they turn their sights, yet again, to the future.
(Photo of Wilyer Abreu: Cole Burston / Getty Images)
