Kevin McNamara: Best Red Sox team ever, or a letdown in the making?

Can the Red Sox really be this good? Will they ultimately be remembered as historically successful or infamously disappointing?

While we won’t reach those answers until the arrival of cool October nights, the challenge of the present is maintaining the blazingly hot pace the Sox are setting this summer. As baseball’s second half begins Friday, your Red Sox are on track to smash all sorts of franchise records, the most important being victories. If things keep clicking [...]

Can the Red Sox really be this good? Will they ultimately be remembered as historically successful or infamously disappointing?

While we won’t reach those answers until the arrival of cool October nights, the challenge of the present is maintaining the blazingly hot pace the Sox are setting this summer. As baseball’s second half begins Friday, your Red Sox are on track to smash all sorts of franchise records, the most important being victories. If things keep clicking along, Alex Cora’s team is pegged to win 112 games. That blows away the franchise record (105 in 1912) and brings baseball’s all-time mark of 116, set by the 2001 Seattle Mariners, into play.

Can this really happen? Are these Red Sox ready to travel such a gold-plated path to immortality?

In a word, yes. The opportunity is at hand.

While injuries and unforeseen slumps are the bane of every ball team’s existence, the 2018 Red Sox are equipped to win 100-plus games. The main reasons are a loaded roster, the relative awfulness of the rest of the American League and a schedule that tilts in their favor over the season’s remaining 64 games.

Many of the same ingredients can be attributed to the New York Yankees and the world champion Houston Astros, but we’ll get to them later.

First, the free-swinging Red Sox. Boston’s offense leads the big leagues in runs scored, hits, doubles, total bases, batting average and OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging). The Mookie Betts/J.D. Martinez combination is reminiscent of the David Ortiz/Manny Ramirez duo that paced the Sox to World Series flags in 2004 and '07. And don’t forget that Betts happens to be the best right fielder in the sport.

The pitching staff is much shakier, but with All-Star starter Chris Sale up front and closer Craig Kimbrel shutting the door, the staff is second in strikeouts, fourth in opponents' OPS and fifth in earned-run average. Pitching health is always paramount and the Sox need to survive a current speed bump with lefty Eduardo Rodriguez nursing a badly sprained ankle. Rodriguez, who leads the team in wins (11-3) and is a certain playoff series starter, could be back before August. In the meantime, lefty Drew Pomeranz (biceps tendinitis) looks ready to fill in after throwing just 69 pitches to get through six innings of one-hit ball for the PawSox on Wednesday night.

The weakest part of the team is the bullpen. Kimbrel is 30-of-32 in save chances but it’s clear that the Matt Barnes-Heath Hembree-Joe Kelly troika will need to keep showing up in the seventh and eighth innings. That’s a bit unnerving and the reason why team president Dave Dombrowski will own a hot cell phone leading up to the trade deadline.

In a normal season, the pace that the Red Sox are setting would leave their competitors in the dust. But this is not a normal campaign. The American League is filled with a load of bad teams that are regularly getting bullied by the Sox, Yankees, Astros and Cleveland Indians. That’s helped those four teams emerge as the class of the league and almost certain playoff entrants.

Boston began the season 17-2 and roared into the All-Star break winning 12 of 13 but carry just a 4.5-game lead in the A.L. East. The Red Sox and Yankees are locked in a tight race that would make Affirmed and Alydar blush. Like those two great thoroughbreds, the two ancient hardball rivals appear destined to match one another stride-for-stride the rest of the way.

The slight lead the Red Sox own in the race is certainly a bonus, and so is the team’s remaining schedule. Over the final 64 games, the Sox will play 34 times at friendly Fenway Park. Seven of 10 games left with the Yanks will come at home, as will three versus the Astros. Perhaps more important, the Sox will welcome 16 games against teams (Orioles, White Sox, Mets) who’ve all but given up this season.

This all adds up to a certain spot in the playoffs — where the game changes, where nothing is guaranteed. The key will be edging the Yankees and avoiding a one-game wildcard playoff for the right to enter the main draw. Then we'll find out if postseason duds David Price, Rick Porcello and Xander Bogaerts can change their ways and shine when the brightest lights flick on.

 That's all a concern for another day. For now your Red Sox are in first place and as hot as an August afternoon in Narragansett. Enjoy the ride.