There is a relentlessness about these Boston Red Sox that goes beyond the typical greatness baseball teams show over the course of a season. Others may ebb and flow, wax and wane, thrive for shards of time only to succumb to the rigors of a 162-game season designed to expose fallibility. The 2018 Red Sox laugh at this. They have sprinted three-quarters of a marathon and would happily run backward for the last quarter, barking the whole way, if it didn’t interrupt their crack at history.

Incredible though this may sound, it is becoming truer by the day: The Red Sox have a legitimate shot at winning 117 games, which would set a new single-season record for Major League Baseball. After winning their fifth straight Tuesday, they sit at 86-35. If they played at that same level for their final 41 games, the Red Sox would finish 115-47. A 31-10 stretch is far from fantasy. The Red Sox have done it nine times this season, including right now, when they’ve won 33 of 41.

View photos The Boston Red Sox have a legitimate shot at winning 117 games. (AP) More

Even if they slum the last six weeks of the season and play .500 ball, the Red Sox still are looking at the best regular season in franchise history. It’s a terribly enjoyable group, with Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez the new Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, with Chris Sale doing his Roger Clemens impersonation, with Alex Cora channeling Terry Francona, with a 25-man roster that oozes likability. They are great. They know they are great. And they make you know they are great.

One dig into the numbers, and it’s quite obvious. The Red Sox have scored the most runs in baseball and allowed the second fewest. They hit, they run, they catch, they don’t strike out. Here are their ranks in all of baseball in half a dozen significant categories.

OPS: 1st

ERA: 2nd

HR: 2nd

K/9: 3rd

SB: 2nd

Bullpen ERA: 4th

Perhaps we should’ve seen this coming after Boston won 17 of its first 19 games. That last happened more than 30 years ago and only four times in the last century. Two of those teams, the 1984 Detroit Tigers and 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, won the World Series. They also didn’t need to conquer three rounds of playoffs like the Red Sox will.

So until the division series dawns and the crapshoot that is the baseball postseason gives the Red Sox a new kind of test, the focus will be on 117. The schedule, though rough in patches, offers hope. Of those final 41 games, 24 come at Fenway Park. After finishing a quick series in Philadelphia tonight, Boston will sandwich two series against the tough Rays around a four-game homestand against AL Central-leading Cleveland. Then comes a cakewalk week (Miami and the Chicago White Sox), followed by a gauntlet (Atlanta and Houston), then another easing off the throttle (Toronto and the New York Mets). Boston finishes its season New York, Cleveland, Baltimore, New York.

The prospect of the Yankees waltzing into Boston and trying to prevent 117 is indeed rich and would be the perfect denouement for a season that the Red Sox have commanded. And in honor of that ownership, which has emboldened Red Sox fans not just to dream big but unleash hell on Yankees fans whose hatred simmers amid grudging respect, Yahoo Sports presents 117 reasons to love the 2018 Boston Red Sox.

13: Pitches in the best at-bat of the year

For 7 minutes, 20 seconds on July 12, Betts wore down J.A. Happ. The 25-year-old Betts is an athletic marvel. His power belies his 5-foot-9, 170-pound body. His wields his bat with the precision of an arborist. Pitchers rarely fool him, which is why he has the 20th-lowest strikeout rate among qualified hitters this season. Just watch the at-bat. It’s classic Betts, grinding, annoying, infuriating and, finally, devastating. His other numbers – .350 batting average, .439 on-base percentage, .668 slugging percentage, 27 home runs, 99 runs, 24 stolen bases – are all impressive. If you want to know the story of his season – of the Red Sox’s season – the 13-pitch at-bat he took against Happ personifies them.

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