MLB Power Rankings: Red Sox’ slow start raises the question of whether late-season “relevance” is even possible

In the first half of the season, the Boston Red Sox looked like a team drifting toward the kind of historical futility that tends to define organizations for years, not weeks. According to CBS Sports’ MLB Power Rankings discussion published at the All-Star break, Boston was as far as 14 games under.500 as recently as June 24, holding a 32-46 record at the time and on pace for 96 losses. That is a level of failure the franchise has not reached in modern memory, with CBS noting the Red Sox have not lost 96 games or more since 1965.

That historical comparison matters because it reframes what “bad” means for Boston. For a club with a long tradition of contention, a record like 32-46 does not merely indicate struggles, it suggests problems severe enough to alter expectations for the rest of the year. At midseason, the Red Sox are therefore not just chasing a better stretch, they are chasing the possibility of being treated as a legitimate factor again, at least in the broad, AL-wide conversation about who has a path to October.

CBS’ setup also leans into the larger American League context, describing the league at the break as “painfully mediocre,” with “almost every team” still within striking distance of meaningful outcomes. That framing is important because it makes the Red Sox’ turnaround question less about needing perfection and more about whether they can string together enough wins to force the standings conversation to move toward them. Power rankings, after all, are not standings. They reflect form, matchup-readiness, and projection, which can shift quickly when a team starts winning series instead of losing them.

The immediate statistical anchor for Boston’s season remains that June 24 baseline. CBS’ reporting points to a point in time when the Red Sox were not merely slumping, they were failing to win often enough to remain competitive on a full-season projection. The pace for 96 losses functions as a worst-case snapshot, and the implication is that Boston has to avoid slipping into the same statistical groove again if it hopes to change how the league views them after the break.

The next logical step, then, is whether the Red Sox can convert the opportunity of the second half into measurable improvement. Because CBS’ premise is about whether Boston can “get hot enough to be relevant,” the bar is not vague fan hope. It is a matter of outcomes over a sustained period, long enough to pull the Red Sox upward in the mind of analysts and eventually upward on the AL table. If Boston’s post-break performance proves merely uneven, the “relevance” question will fade. If it improves into a genuine winning rhythm, it becomes a story the league will have to react to in real time.

Still, there are limits to what one midseason shift can accomplish. Even without adding specific ranks or later-game results, the structural reality is that a 32-46 first half creates a cushion deficit for any team that starts chasing. A hot streak can close gaps, but it rarely erases them instantly, especially in the American League where the competitive field can turn quickly from “almost” to “too late.” That is the tension CBS highlights, and it is why the Red Sox’ second-half response will likely be evaluated more harshly than that of teams that were already near contention by late June.

For what to watch next, Boston’s season is best interpreted through two lenses: whether it can sustain winning against the type of opponents it will face regularly in the remaining schedule, and whether its ability to improve in the standings matches the power-ranking narrative analysts are willing to entertain at the break. CBS’ framing suggests the league believes a second-half reset is possible for many teams. The Red Sox’ job is to prove they belong among the ones who actually capitalize.

If they do not, the historical comparison CBS provided will remain the dominant lens. The franchise has not posted 96 losses since 1965, and that fact is not just trivia. It is the reference point that tells readers how steep the climb is when a season begins to slip beyond ordinary bad-luck explanations. Either Boston changes the math after the All-Star break, or the summer will become the story of a near-miss at returning to contention that never quite got off the ground.