The Red Sox have won six straight to get back into the Wild Card mix, but will their winning ways continue against tougher competition before and after the All-Star break.

There was a time in the old days -- like a couple of months ago -- when the Red Sox were seriously scuffling. They couldn’t hold late-inning leads when their closer, Aroldis Chapman, didn’t have the ball,

In running their winning streak to six, the Sox have vaulted back into contention, sitting just 5½ games behind the first-place Blue Jays in the AL East, and very much in the wild-card race. But the level of competition changes dramatically between now and the July 31 trade deadline.