How Boston's future looks different after HISTORIC win streak comes to an end

The Red Sox made history, tying the franchise record for most consecutive wins with 15, but they failed to break the record after they fell to the Orioles, 5-1 in the 2nd game of a double header. Mike Felger, Michael Holley and Phil Perry react to the Red Sox streak and what it means for the team moving forward. Boston has climbed back into a playoff spot. Does that mean they should be buyers at the trade deadline? Craig Breslow shares what the Red Sox' approach might be at the deadline in an exclusive interview.

How Boston's future looks different after HISTORIC win streak comes to an end originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

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Feels good.

Feels great.

just one win closer to 16 to break it, so, I'm just excited we got another one today, and keep playing.

We knew eventually we were gonna go on that run, and, it's here and, and it's awesome and we all are backing each other up and we're all doing our jobs, so it's been awesome to see.

Feel like we've been playing really good baseball right now.

We've been doing the little things.

I feel like we, weren't really, bought into the, to the just get runs and score runs every single inning, and then it kind of developed as we've kind of got our identity.

I feel like it took us a while to, to realize what our identity was and, and we kind of found it, and we've just been rolling with it, and it's been working.

Okay, Mike, before we get to the frustration of Brian Bello and- Right and that thing, I A word on the 15 game winning streak.

I'm glad, I'm glad it ha- I'm glad I was around to see it happen.

I mean, you know, you've hear- you've heard all these stories.

All right, tonight you hear about 1946, we weren't around Ted Williams and his team who wins the World Series.

They win all those games in a row.

We weren't, a lot of us weren't, a- around or pa- or locked in for Morgan Magic.

I mean, we were around.

It w- it was in the 1980s, but a lot of people just don't remember it, th- vividly.

But for this to happen here, I think it was a big deal for baseball this summer for this team, and it's also a big picture, Mike.

It's a reminder that you're never, any sports franchise in this city is never really irrelevant.

Team owners and general managers, just, just do your job.

Give, give, give, give us resources, give us a good product.

We'll show up, we'll support it, but you got to give us something good.

Because every team in this town, I've said this before, every team in this town is a potential number one.

Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, Celtics, all potential number ones, and the Red Sox were just a reminder.

They just reminded us, if you give us a good product, people are gonna support and get excited about it.

Yeah, there's a lot of latent, baseball and Red Sox fans in this town.

They go dormant.

It's not like it used to be- Right where they grind out the bad times.

I don't really feel that that happens like it used to.

But when the team, it gives you a reason, they're back.

They got on, they got on pretty quickly, didn't they?

They're back in force, and that- Yeah was what we saw.

These, there's nothing like a streak.

There's nothing like a good baseball streak.

Yeah.

And, really, I mean, it's, baseball's not our top sport anymore.

That really is the NFL, but there's nothing in the NFL that equates or is as good as a day in, day out winning streak like that one, so And it was a great story.

It was a great story how they did it.

It's not how they drew it up.

It was on the back of a lot of 4A players or minor league players or fringe players who weren't expected to be part of this mix, or players that were given up for dead, like Caleb Durbin.

So it was done, truly when no one, not even them, no matter what they say now, what they truly, expected.

Okay.

And, and I was gonna say, quickly, and it's a great point, Mike.

W- that's what's so fascinating about it, is this streak, happened, a- and part of it, it's a hybrid streak.

Let's call it that.

It's a hybrid streak.

You know, part of it was, th- the pitching was phenomenal, during this 15 game streak, and that was the vision of Craig Breslow, so I'll give him credit for that.

But some of the other things of the streak, if you, you go to the anatomy of the streak, you just didn't expect it to happen without Garrett Crochet, you didn't hap- expect it to happen without Roman Anthony and Trevor Story and some of these players that you talked about.

So it was, it was a Red Sox streak, but it's not really a Craig Breslow production- Right the way he envisioned it.

And I wonder, truly, how he feels about it, because his thumbs were not manipulating the scales the entire time.

This is not really his thing.

Well, so many things that they were relying on or built the team around to start the year had nothing to do with it, and that's, again, some things were their fault, some things weren't, but Crochet, Roman Anthony, Trevor Story, Marcelo Meyer, you name it, so many things that they had sort of built the team around were non-factors in this streak.

So as Neston kept showing shots of the owners or shots of Craig Breslow at the end of these games, as in taking sort of a bow or a victory lap.

I, I, I don't know if that exactly hits home.

Real quick, even in the 15 game winning streak, even though they've climbed back into playoff, a playoff spot, not just contention, they're in the playoffs if they begin tonight, still some things wrong with the team, still some things dysfunctional with the team.

And needing to give Brian Bello an opener is one of them, Mike.

This is something that if they're serious about really contending down the stretch, they either have to ditch Brian Bello or figure that one out, because this thing is just not functional.

Okay, snarky time.

When I'm going for history, you know who I want on the mound for me?

I want Brian Bello on the m- I mean, like, I, come on.

We should've known that wasn't gonna happen, if Brian Bello was gonna be a part of this thing.

And the other thing is, I really, I, I'm serious, and I'm gonna f- we'll talk later about Red Sox coming back, w- what Red Sox you want to see stay or go.

I, I wanted to see him at Worcester for the rest of the year.

I, I am all set.

I know that he has been back and he's had some decent performances since coming back.

I don't want him to come back unless he is capable of being a starting pitcher on regular starting pitcher terms.

Right.

Exactly.

Forget about this opener stuff.

I hate openers.

So this also belies that, you know, Ranger Surez was supposed to start, I think, last night, or the- Right the rain out night, right?

He was supposed to start, and then okay, then he'll start the night cap tonight, and he still didn't.

So what's going on there?

Do we have another injury question, where we say, oh, is this what it's been billed to be?

'Cause we would know, Mike, as you know better than anyone, know the Red Sox would never lie- No, no a- about, injuries.

Here are the updated AL East and Wild Card standings, back on, Well, listen, this is what it was, or what it was, three weeks ago, is they were out of it.

Out of it, out of it, out of it.

Right now, they are still the third wild card.

They are seven back in the AL East.

Okay, so that's what that was, and that's what is right now.

Bill, your reaction tonight on the streak ending at 15?

Yeah, I like h- how you're putting it, Mike.

You, you know, you said it was a good story.

It, past tense, right?

It, it's over now, and to me, as, as exciting as the streak was, and as much as they are now back in a postseason spot and all kinds of people, myself included, are willing to invest our time and our energy and our money on this team, what do they do from here?

Because this is not a team where I, I think you can really look at Anybody in that clubhouse.

Now maybe you look at, Contreras and you say he won with the Cubs, years ago, and maybe there's a handful of guys in there that, that have done a little something in the league that, that you say, "Okay, I feel like I know what this guy is, and now that the streak is behind them, I know what he'll be moving forward."

I, I don't know what to expect from these guys moving forward.

So how do they handle that success now that it's over?

Do they start anew?

Are they able to turn a page?

Was that just a one-off or is that who they are now?

Yeah.

And if they continue to show that's who they are now, then the front office has to help them out.

If they invest ahead of the deadline, then I think everyone will be bought in.

I don't know if they're gonna be making a World Series anytime soon, but you'll be willing to spend that time, that effort, that energy on following this team.

Well, Phil, that's a good point.

And, and one of the things that, we played before you came on, Jarren Duran said, "Hey, it took us a while to find our, our, our identity.

We found it now."

Do you know what the identity is of the Boston Red Sox?

We all got caught up in the streak.

What's the identity of the Red Sox, in your opinion?

I heard him say it and I heard him try to describe it.

I have no idea what he was trying to say.

He, he said something along the lines of, you know, "We really bought into trying to score runs every inning."

If, if that has only started in the last month or so, I, I would be questioning everyone- It's a good strategy, isn't it?

In the organization.

Yeah, yeah.

You might want to actually try to score runs when you're at the plate.

That's a great plan moving forward.

It seems like it's worked for the, the last, 15 to 16 games.

So, their identity has been all season, guys, they pitch and play defense.

And so did they just have a handful of guys get really hot at the right time, and did they have some of these foray players show up offensively at the right time?

Caleb Durbin has completely turned it around, and is a great story.

It, you know, it's sort of an individual window into what the team has been able to do over the course of the last few weeks here.

I, I don't know.

I don't know.

Again, I have many, many questions about whether or not they'll be able to.

Of course, they won't win 15 in a row again, but will they be able to continue to win at a respectable clip?

Because I j- I can't look at anybody in this lineup, maybe outside of Contreras, and say, "I know what they're gonna be moving forward.

I feel like this is relatively sustainable."

Yeah, Duran's not able to articulate it 'cause he's a dope.

But what he is basically trying to say is that they're a scrappier offense.

They're not just swinging for the fences.

They're striking out less.

They're, they're scoring runs on contact, and they're just scrapping it together offensively.

I think that's pretty obvious how they've been playing the last couple of weeks.

Now, back on June 30th, Craig Breslow spoke with our cameraman, Bill Mussina, and he spoke about whether or not the Sox playing well would lead to investing in the team at the deadline.

Here's what he told Moose.

I mean, I've said for a long time that I believe in, in the players that we have, and, you know, my hope is, that's starting to, to surface in, in terms of wins and losses.

But we also have to be realistic about where we are and the work that we have to do.

You know, fortunately, the deadline is, is over a month away, so we don't have to make that decision today.

But, you know, if, if we're gonna get this thing going, we gotta keep going out and winning games every night.

Don't you think, Phil, that the front office has to, validate this or back this up with a move that really catches the attention of the fans coming up?

No question.

And, and they should want to, not just to catch the attention of the fans or to try to keep this wave of momentum going.

Craig Breslow should be trying to do this to save his job.

I mean, if they fall back to the team that they were prior to the streak, and say they fall out of postseason contention, I mean, we have big time, respected, plugged in MLB reporters talking about this guy like he's a dead man walking just a couple of weeks ago.

Like, he will be fired at the end of the season, I believe, is how Ken Rosenthal has put it.

So he needs to do something to, to get a little job security here, to lock in the fact that this is a playoff kind of baseball team.

And so I would expect them to do something significant.

All right, here's the flip side of this.

And, and I don't agree with it, but here's the flip side.

As Mike has, has pointed out, the NESN broadcast has, has flashed John Henry and Craig Breslow many times during their winning streak.

"Hey, look at this.

This, look at what we built," right?

So the validation in their eyes is right here in this 15-game winning streak.

They could argue, "Why would we go out and trade for somebody who's gonna break up the core that we have right now?

We got this group capable of winning 15 games in a row."

So they may, don't be surprised if they look at it that way.

I don't agree with it at all.

I think they can go out and, and get a real bat and sacrifice some of their minor leaguers.

But they may be looking at this as, "See?

I told you, we don't need to do anything.

We're all set."

Well, and that's what I would worry the owner feels.

I, I would worry that John Henry's looking at this and saying, "You guys told me this was gonna be, an over 500 baseball team, a team that'll be in the playoffs.

This is about what we expected, and so let's, let's roll with what we've got.

We may even get some of these injured guys back and they'll help us out."

I worry that John Henry's not going to want to buy at the deadline because he doesn't want to spend, because he knows there's gonna be a work stoppage coming up next season and he's trying to mitigate costs.

That, that to me, would be a massive, massive issue, but I could see it happening, that John Henry just says, "No, we're not adding money this season."

Are you kidding me?

We're about to lose games in 2027.

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