Philadelphia Phillies facing must-win situation against Boston Red Sox

Even though it’s only the middle of August, the Philadelphia Phillies can make a major statement with a win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.

For reasons that are tough to explain, the Philadelphia Phillies have played some of their best baseball this season when facing the Boston Red Sox, although they could see some improvement in the scoring department.

After holding the Red Sox to just two runs on Tuesday, one would think a team like the Phillies would have been able to score the necessary runs to win the game, but that was far from the case.

Instead, Philadelphia was held to just one run on two hits during the 2-1 loss to Boston, meaning they failed to take advantage of making a statement against one of the top teams in all of baseball.

With 86 wins heading into Wednesday’s game, no team is even within single digits of catching the Red Sox for the best record in baseball, and the fact that the Phillies were able to hold them to two runs says a lot about how great their pitching rotation can be at times.

Nick Pivetta (one earned run while striking out six in six innings of action) was the one that came up big for Philadelphia during Tuesday’s outing, only to watch his impressive performance go to complete waste since his teammates didn’t come through on the scoring end.

Normally, a loss like this may not seem like that big of a deal when seeing how long the season is, but also the Phillies need every game they can get in what is turning out to be a tight division race.

Not to mention, every win they can pull off against a highly-competitive team like the Red Sox builds a stronger case when it comes to proving they deserve to be in the playoff contender conversation.

Taking down the best team in baseball isn’t going to be easy, but if Philadelphia truly wants to be the best, the team needs to prove they’re capable of competing with the best.

Referring to Wednesday’s game as a must-win may sound ridiculous, but when seeing how it would mean these two teams split their four meetings in 2018 along with the fact it would keep the Phillies in great shape in the NL East, why not call it that?