Can the Red Sox stay hot ahead of the trade deadline?

After an atrocious start to the season, during which they fired manager Alex Cora and six coaches, the Boston Red Sox have improbably — and quickly — found a way back into contention.

Boston finished the first half on a nine-game winning streak, having won 14 of its past 16 games and looking like a completely different team from the one that routinely collapsed in April, May and much of June.

Outstanding starting pitching and an offense that finally started to find its groove — thanks in part to multiple Triple-A call-ups contributing in big spots — have helped the Red Sox back into the playoff picture in a topsy-turvy American League.

But the Red Sox still have their work cut out for them in the second half. The team begins with 10 straight games against the AL East, including a doubleheader Friday to start a four-game series against the AL’s best team, the Tampa Bay Rays.

After their longest homestand of the season, they’ll head back to the West Coast for the third time in six weeks for four games against the Athletics in Sacramento and three against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, leading into the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

Maintaining momentum

In each of the past two years, the Red Sox had a strong run leading into the All-Star break but couldn’t maintain their success afterward.

Last season, they won 10 straight ahead of the break but limped to a 6-6 record entering the trade deadline. In 2024, they went 10-3 ahead of the break but just 3-8 before the trade deadline.

This Red Sox club is different from those two, with so many Triple-A players fighting to prove they can win in the majors. Could that grit help them dig deeper in the second half?

“To be where we’re at right now, based on where we’re at three weeks ago, you couldn’t ask for much more,” interim manager Chad Tracy said. “So the key is now — I told the team that, too — part two is that we’ve got to be ready to go when the second part of the season starts.”

The Red Sox have fared better on the road than at home, but they did have their most successful homestand of the season (5-2) just before the break. Playing similarly in the upcoming 10-game homestand will be key.

“We won five out of seven games at home; that’s what got all this started,” Tracy said just before the break. “So for me, the mindset is more like we already did things at home before we came out here (to New York) that were turning that (home record around). If we continue to play baseball the way that we played baseball the last few weeks, regardless of home/road, we’ll be fine.”

Injured players returning

The Red Sox’s MASH unit is well stocked, but they’d like that to change quickly in the second half. At the moment, the team is without starters Garrett Crochet (shoulder), Connelly Early (elbow) and Ranger Suarez (groin); infielders Trevor Story (groin), Marcelo Mayer (forearm stress fracture) and Isiah Kiner-Falefa (forearm stress fracture); and outfielder Roman Anthony (sprained finger). That’s not even mentioning longer-term injuries to pitchers Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, Johan Oviedo and first baseman Triston Casas, all of whom have a slight but unlikely chance of contributing late in the second half.

Their replacements — infielders Anthony Seigler, Tsung-Che Cheng and Nate Eaton, and pitchers Eduardo Rivera and Jake Bennett — have done an admirable job. But the team would surely get a boost from its more established players.

Story had been progressing from sports hernia surgery more quickly than expected. Before the break, he’d begun throwing and light fielding drills. Crochet was still working on throwing with weighted plyometric balls before the break, and Early received positive news when a second opinion on his elbow confirmed it was just inflammation with no structural damage. Suarez had been scheduled to remain in Boston this week to get treatment for his groin strain. Kiner-Falefa and Mayer were still not swinging as they each rested stress reactions in their forearms. Anthony had moved to Fort Myers, Fla., to rehab and was still not swinging a bat before the break.

When these players return, it will be interesting to see how Tracy slides them back into their roles while not messing with the club’s current mojo.

Trade deadline shift?

As of mid-June, it appeared all but certain the Red Sox would sell. Now? A 14-2 stretch has pushed them squarely into wild-card contention and right in the mix of a mediocre American League. How that affects the deadline will be the biggest question after the break.

“So much for selling; they have to be all-in,” said one National League evaluator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid about another team.

Will chief baseball officer Craig Breslow try a buy/sell method — perhaps trying to sell high on closer Aroldis Chapman while filling that role with Garrett Whitlock or Justin Slaten, then adding another late-inning reliever? Will he trade starter Sonny Gray (who would have to waive a no-trade clause) and bank on the returns of Crochet and Early or the emergence of Rivera to fill out the rotation? Or does Breslow only buy, adding a much-needed veteran bat to a young mix that has overperformed so far but could surely use more help down the stretch?

Willson Contreras told reporters at the All-Star Game on Tuesday that he has loved his time in Boston and has told the team’s front office he doesn’t want to be traded. He has a no-trade clause, and it seems likely he’d veto any potential move.

How the Red Sox play out of the break is likely to affect all of this, too. But with just a few weeks before the trade deadline, the Red Sox are bound to look different in some way.

On Tuesday, the team made a small move, acquiring outfielder Jahmai Jones from the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named later. Jones, recently designated for assignment, had been hitting .137 through 105 plate appearances, but offers outfield depth for the club. The Red Sox optioned outfielder Nate Eaton to Triple-A Worcester to make room for Jones.