Now more than ever, the Red Sox have to understand this is a results business

One of Triston Casas' most admirable traits is his attention to detail. It is something that usually presents itself at a level offered by very few major leaguers.

This reality was put on display when Casas was asked about not being able to field a 102.1 mph grounder off the bat of Chicago's Zach DeLoach to lead off the sixth inning of what ultimately would be a 7-2 White Sox win Sunday.

"Hard hit," Casas said as the introduction to his response to the question about the misplay. "Hit the grass and then popped up and I anticipated the next hop being just as high and it just stayed down. If you look at the high-home camera you could tell as soon as it hit the ground it popped up. Once it is hit at 103 and it pops up and you see the ball come up you don’t anticipate it staying down once it hits the dirt. It typically it hits that dirt and takes another top-spin higher. That was just what happened. I anticipated it coming up. It started right at me and was hit so hard but because of the lefty angle it kind of spun to my left and I wasn’t able to get in front of it. Hard-hit ball. If it stayed in front of me I could have had a chance but it just stayed down."

Normally, such an explanation would offer insight and fascination. This time of year, however, such moments are viewed through a different sort of lens.

With 19 games to go, this is a very defined sort of endeavor. More than ever, this is a results business.

Ultimately, the players - like Casas - get that. Sure, he might default to the usually endearing explanations instead of just proclaiming the play wasn't made. And there are going to be misplaced sentences like the one also uttered by the first baseman, harmlessly passing along, "We just didn’t score more runs than the other team and that’s how the cookie crumbles. But a lot of positives came out of today."

The fact is no crumbling cookies. Either the day is a delicious treat or your snack is put in the blender.

Again, this is a notion that isn't lost on those feeling the pain of what was expected to be a gimme against the lowly White Sox.

"It’s what we live for," Casas said. "This is what we started spring training thinking, hoping we came down to the wire in our division. We knew September was going to be a dogfight, but we’re right where we want to be. We have our backs against the well and we have to play well for sure, but that just puts that much more focus on these types of games. It’s going to take the little things to come out with wins. We’re going to do things right, slow things down and play our style game."

Whatever that style is in the coming days better represent the best version of this team. That's what all of this comes down to.

The Sox can come away from a game like Sunday and hang their hat on eight balls hit 99 mph or better, or the optimism that came with Richard Fitts' sterling MLB debut. And, yes, Trevor Story's presence has seemingly altered the team's defensive dynamic. Great.

There is only one metric that matters from here on in: Wins. However they appear, so be it. But this is bottom of the ninth, two outs, bases loaded kind of stuff.

Up until now, there has been a tendency to agonize over every team's schedule. That might be a mistake, as we have discovered thanks to the Red Sox' recent stretch.

After being swept by the Diamondbacks, the Red Sox were supposed to be able to hang their hats on a stretch that included the Blue Jays, Tigers, Mets and White Sox. Well, ultimately that run of games resulted in a less-than-inspiring 5-8 record, with Detroit leapfrogging the Sox in the process.

The idea was to be entrenched in Wild Card consideration by the time this run against the Orioles, Yankees and Rays came calling. Nope. Instead, the Red Sox have found themselves needing to play postseason baseball three weeks before the playoffs.

The good news is that the narrative regarding the best version of the Red Sox being able to beat anybody in the American League hasn't gone anywhere. Also, making up four games on a team over 19 games can be done, we know that because that is exactly what the Tigers have done on the Sox over the last three weeks.

The bad news is that finding the aforementioned level of play for a team that has won more than two games in a row just once since July 5 seems easier said than done.

The rubber is officially meeting the road. We are now going to find out how much actual traction this team actually has.