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By Ben Watanabe
Contributing Sports Writer
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The Boston Red Sox are known for the firmness of their of their faith.
A franchise and its fan base don't remain untiringly invested over 85 championship-less years without an unshakeable belief that, all evidence to the contrary, things are going to work out.
While it's not eight-and-a-half decades of heartache, this year's Red Sox face their own tests of faith as the regular season winds down and the MLB postseason begins. Because their playoff fortunes rest on so many unproven variables, choosing who and what they believe in will determine whether their playoff run is a brief one.
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It's been extensively covered that this is a team that won 15 consecutive games in July after a putrid first three months that put them deservedly in last place by 15 1/2 games.
Despite posting the highest OPS and scoring the most runs in the American League since the All-Star break, the Red Sox are only the 19th-best offense in MLB in terms of runs scored for the season, showing just how hopeless the offense has been outside of the July and August surge. If the Red Sox are to be a serious contender, manager Chad Tracy has a tight window for success.
Injuries, of course, raise the biggest questions. Willson Contreras, Ceddanne Rafaela, Garrett Crochet, Aroldis Chapman and Tyron Guerrero all are either nearing a return from the IL or just came off it. Leadoff hitter Roman Anthony is still getting back his timing at the plate after his own long injury absence. Catcher Adley Rutschman is perpetually day to day. If anything happens to Contreras or right fielder Wilyer Abreu, the drivers of the lineup's success, the offense is probably cooked.
One man who hasn't had a slow introduction back from injury is shortstop Trevor Story. The 33-year-old is scorching, batting .349 and slugging .508 since his return entering Friday. It's only been 16 games and questions still abound for a player with a 94 OPS+ in his five seasons in Boston, and his defense is as shaky as ever.
Does Tracy feel the real Story has finally arrived? Or does he choose to believe in veteran Isiah Kiner-Falefa, whose ceiling is only so high, or take a chance on Andruw Monasterio or Nick Sogard, who have performed valiantly despite unremarkable careers?
And the specter of Jarren Duran looms over it all, as always. His 20 home runs look nice on a baseball card, which make it so remarkable that he's been so ineffectual in every other area that he's been a net minus to the team's offense as a whole. There is no evidence to suggest Duran will turn it around when the lights are brightest, yet from the loud cheers he receives at Fenway Park, a large portion of the fanbase clearly feels it's possible.
There are plenty of other worrying elements -- Chapman's dipping velocity and shaky command, Caleb Durbin's lack of hard contact, whether Rafaela or Crochet will be in playoff form -- but postseason success hinges on the best players. Story and Duran are two of Boston's best players of the last two seasons, and whether they reward their team's faith might be as pivotal as any other factor in swinging the Red Sox from AL pennant contenders to wild card round pretenders.
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