Red Sox playoffs?!!! Highly unlikely

Is it too late for the Red Sox to make a playoff push?

With July knocking on the door and the Red Sox eight games out in the AL East, it would seem like the organization’s focus should now turn to future years and not 2015.Things obviouslydon’t look good as the Sox are in last place in the division, while the other four teams in the division are separated by just one game.

For all of April and May the narrative was that the division was experiencing a down year and no team would be able to pull away from the pack. This was proven wrong in the month of June as the AL East is the only division in all of baseball to have at least three teams with 40 wins (they have four). In sum, the worst division has suddenly turned into the best.

With the second wild card being introduced last season, normally there would be some hope there, but that too isn’t looking promising either, as the Red Sox are a full eight games out of the second wild card spot with a whopping eight teams ahead of them.

The team is in need of a drastic turnaround and itneeds onevery soon. After taking two of three games from the Rays this pastweekend, the Red Sox have won three straight games just twice all season – almost three full months in.

With what has been shown so far this season, the drastic turnaround doesn’t appear to be in sight, particularly with the recent injuries to Dustin Pedroia and Hanley Ramirez.

A reason for some (any) optimism? Take a look at the division rival Orioles.On June 3, the O’swere 23-29 and are now 41-34 and leading the AL East. Over their last 23 games they are 18-5. For the Red Sox to somehow salvage their season they need to go on one of these types of runs and do it sooner rather than later.

While the eternal optimist says there is still hope for the team with the roster they have, the play on the field hasn’t backed that notion up. The biggest problem for the Red Sox is not the number of games in which they trail in the division, it’s the number of teams that are in front of them.Even if the Red Sox go on a long winning streak, they need the teams in front of them to go on losing streaks.

Meaningless August and September baseball games are not what Red Sox Nation wants to see, but it’s turning into a reality.