Now this is fun.

The Red Sox won their sixth consecutive game last night, polishing off an impressive three game sweep against the South Side Other Sox. I am not interested quite yet (but I very well might be soon) in discussing our southwesterly neighbors but let’s just say I think they hear us coming. Damn it’s cool to be pulling for a team playing like a bunch of bad-asses and having a good time doing it.

Knowing a strong August push would be essential in their quest for the postseason, the Red Sox have responded by posting a 14-6 record for the month while outscoring their opponents 130-88 in the process.

Looking at ESPN’s standings page and further, at team OPS totals, it is hard to argue that the Red Sox do not at least have a case to be considered baseball’s best team.

Look at these numbers in “Runs Scored / Runs Against / differential” format…

Boston: 703 / 583 / +120
New York Yankees: 671 / 606 / +65
St. Louis: 669 / 504 / +165

It appears that these numbers would indicate that the Red Sox are still a little ways behind the Cards, despite appearing to be better than the Yankees (at least with respect to scoring and preventing runs). But remember, the Red Sox have one of baseball’s most inefficient offenses and their peripheral statistics indicate that they ought to have plated more runs. Similarly, their pitching has been better than their runs-against number would indicate.

Consider these, in “OPS / OPS-against / OPS differential” format…

Boston: 832 / 729 / +103
New York Yankees: 807 / 758 / +49
St. Louis: 808 / 713 / +95

Bear in mind that OPS is a merely quick-and-dirty means of evaluating performance. But I think you get the point. The Sox have been producing all year without the wins to show for it.

I think it is important for me to stress that I write this now not to express any embitterment about the Sox’s underachievement to this point. Instead, I write this to warn doubters that this 14-6 stretch is no hot streak - no anomaly - but instead a long overdue attainment of a record befitting both their ability and performance levels.

Expect more of the same going forward.