As the Red Sox have shrugged off a slow start and played their way back into the conversation of American League contenders, they’ve effectively affirmed their status as playoff-worthy. And so, in their first home series of August, they’ll have a chance to make another statement — this one being that they don’t just belong in baseball’s expanded postseason, but they deserve to be acknowledged among the legitimate elite as October begins its approach.
They’ll get that opportunity with the arrival of the Braves, the reigning World Series champions and a team still stacked with the talent necessary to make another run at a ring.