The Boston Red Sox cannot afford any more slipups over the next nine days. With Boston barely hanging on to the final American League Wild Card spot, every game is a playoff game for the Red Sox from here on out. 

We wanted relevant September baseball in Boston, but this is not what fans were asking for, Red Sox. A team that owned a six-game edge for a playoff spot at the end of August is now only in the playoff picture by a slim margin, with Boston holding a 1.5-game lead over the red-hot Cleveland Guardians heading into Friday night’s action.

There was a time when the Red Sox could have been lining up their rotation for their first playoff series in four years right now. But a 7-8 record so far in September, paired with a 13-4 surge by the Guardians, has nightmares of another late-season collapse ruining sleep around the 617 area code.

After losing two of three to both the Yankees and the A’s — both at Fenway Park — the Red Sox now leave town for their final road trip of the season. They’re in Tampa this weekend for three against the Rays, who are 75-78 on the season and have lost six of their last 10.

The Rays are not a playoff team. But the Red Sox better treat them like one over the next three days.

Boston will have ace Garrett Crochet on the bump Friday night, who has won two straight. After that, they’ll send a pair of young arms against the Rays with Kyle Hendricks making his first career start for the Red Sox on Saturday, and rookie Connelly Early (1-0, 0.87 ERA) getting his third career start on Sunday.

“We control our own destiny,” Alex Cora said after Thursday’s loss to the Athletics. “So go to Tampa, win a series. That’s the way I see it.”

A series sweep would be great, but anything less than taking two of three could be disastrous for the Red Sox. Fresh off a three-game sweep of the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers, the Guardians are in Minnesota for four games against the Twins this weekend. Cleveland is 6-3 against Minnesota this season, and the Twins have lost 12 of their last 16. 

When the Red Sox are done with the Rays, they’ll head north for a three-game series against the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays. Boston really needs to take care of business in Tampa.

Alex Cora staying positive and looks back to 2021 Red Sox

Cora pushed back on all the October talk last week, but is remaining positive on the team’s outlook the rest of the way. On Thursday, he harkened back to the 2021 Red Sox, which was the last time his squad made the playoffs.

The 2021 Red Sox had to regain their footing on the final weekend of the season, after Boston fell out of the Wild Card picture after losing five of six heading into their season-ending set against the Nationals in Washington.

But Boston went on to sweep Washington that weekend, which included a comeback win on Sunday where the team scored five runs in the final three innings. Rafael Devers hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth to lift the Red Sox to a 7-5 win and the MLB playoffs.

While he likely doesn’t want to see this year’s team drop five of their next six and have to sweep the Tigers at Fenway Park on the final weekend, Cora pointed to 2021 on Thursday to keep things upbeat.

“For me, I take it the same way I took it in ’21,” he said. “Take it one day at a time. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low. It’s part of the season. It’s 162 for a reason.”

The big difference between the 2021 Red Sox and this current squad is the team four years ago was littered with veterans like J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, Chris Sale, and Nate Eovaldi — who had won a World Series with Boston in 2018 — plus deadline-pickup Kyle Schwarber. 

This year’s team has a struggling Alex Bregman and closer Aroldis Chapman with with World Series rings at previous stops, and Trevor Story’s five games of postseason experience during his time with the Rockies. 

Red Sox Magic Number: 8

Boston’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot is eight with nine games to go. Any combination of Red Sox wins and Guardians losses equaling eight would get it done for the Red Sox. Boston could win two of three over the final three series and only need the Guardians to lose twice over their final 10 games for the Red Sox to clinch.

Boston has lost four of its last six series, so expecting the team to win three straight three-game sets to close out the season seems like wishful thinking. 

Getting to October isn’t supposed to be easy, but the Red Sox are making it a lot more difficult on themselves with their current September swoon. After another disappointing loss to the A’s on Thursday, every game will feel like a playoff game the rest of the way for Boston.

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Matt Geagan

Matthew Geagan is a sports producer for CBS Boston. He has been part of the WBZ sports team for nearly 20 years. He moved over to the web in 2012 and has covered all the highs (and a few lows) in Boston sports.