Looking ahead at the rest of the schedule

After losing to the Tigers, the Red Sox are 65-49. They're a half game ahead of the Rangers in the Wild Card, but are tied in the loss column. They trail the Yankees by six games (pending the outcome of tonight's game) for the division, and are up four games on the third-place Rays. 

This month (August) is considered the make it or break it month for the Red Sox, with most games being against teams in strong contention. The Sox started off the month by winning a couple of games from the Orioles, but things quickly turned bad with a six game losing streak against division rivals Tampa and New York. But thanks to taking three of four from the Central leading Tigers, the Sox would be in the playoffs if the season ended today, and they have some confidence back. The losing streak served as a wake-up call, and the brawl fired them up.

Breakdown of Remaining Games

There are 48 games left in the season, and 26 of them are against teams within four games of a playoff berth. Of those 26, half are at home and half are on the road. Of the other 22 games, 12 are at home. To make the playoffs and possibly have a shot at winning the division, the Sox need to (re)prove that they can beat good teams, but also fatten up on the bad teams.

Series-by-Series Breakdown

@Texas, 8/14-16: This is the most immediately crucial series, as the winner takes a lead in the wild card race. After taking 9 of 10 from last year's Rangers, Boston is only 1-5 against this year's version (aka the version with better pitching). The Sox can't win the season series, but they can widen their lead over Texas.

@Toronto, 8/18-20: After an off-day, we head up to Toronto for a three game set. Despite not trading Roy Halladay, the Jays are out of contention and have essentially given up on their season. But they are still an okay team, and playing in Rogers Centre is something the Sox seem to struggle with.

New York, 8/21-23: The Sox get their first shot at revenge since the four game sweep at Yankee Stadium. We need to return to our early season dominance over the MFY, and Fenway is a good place for that. The Yanks may be hot right now, but they're not invincible. We can do it.

Chicago, 8/24-27: The Red Sox play the White Sox for four games at Fenway. The other Sox are 58-57, but only 2.5 games behind Detroit. Even though Chicago is barely over .500, they are an important opponent for Boston down the stretch, as we have eight games remaining against them and both of us are fighting for our playoff lives.

Toronto, 8/28-30: We end August with the first three of six remaining home games against the Jays, followed by an off-day.

@Tampa, 9/1-3: The Sox head to the Trop to begin September, hoping their struggles against the Rays (and in domes in general) don't continue. As of right now, the Rays are four back of us in the wild card.

@Chicago, 9/4-7: The last four Sox vs Sox games of the regular season are at US Cellular Field.

Baltimore, 9/8-9: Boston comes home for two games against the Orioles. Baltimore is resiliant and has some good players, but these are games that we need to win. The O's have struggled mightily since the break, and the Sox hope to continue their winning ways against Baltimore.

Tampa, 9/11-13: The Red Sox play Tampa for the final time in the regular season. An interesting detail about this series is that it is between two off-days, and thus players needing rest won't affect the series as much.

Los Angeles, 9/15-17: The first-place Angels, another big AL rival, come to town. They lead the AL West by 4.5 over the Rangers, and are 4-2 against us this season.

@Baltimore, 9/18-20: The Sox go to Camden Yards to finish the season series against the Birds.

@Kansas City, 9/21-24: Boston continues their road trip at Kauffman Stadium against the Royals. After a decent start, KC is contending for the #1 draft pick.

@New York, 9/25-27: The Red Sox play the Yankees for the last time in the regular season. This is also their last road series. This road trip is very important because the first seven games are against bad teams that they should beat, and the last three are their last chance to gain ground on the Yanks head-to-head.   

Toronto, 9/28-30: Our penultimate regular season series is at Fenway, against the Jays.

Cleveland, 10/1-4: We finish the regular season by hosting the Indians. These four games against the disappointing Tribe represent a somewhat lucky end to the schedule. If the playoff races come down to games this late in the season (which is highly possible), we have the advantage of playing a bad team at home for four games.

                                                           And after all this, (hopefully) the playoffs.

                                                                 (Full schedule can be found here)