With the Red Sox hopelessly wallowing in the mire of mediocrity (if that), even the Sox’ front office seemed to have a, “Wait ‘til next year,” mindset, ready to trade away some top players by the July 31 trade deadline. But just when everyone was ready to give up on the 2026 season, the unexpected happened — the Sox caught fire. Those of us who had written off the Sox in 2026 now are jumping on the bandwagon after the Sox’ historic 15-game winning streak, which included sweeps of the AL Central-leading White Sox and the AL East-leading Rays, a skein that has propelled the Red Sox into the second spot in the Wild Card race. The 15-game streak equals the legendary 1946 team for the longest in Red Sox history. And for those of us who are long-time Sox fans (though not quite old enough to have been around in 1946!