ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays sure did a lot this weekend.

There they were, with Sunday's 9-1 win, sweeping a three-game series from the majors-best Red Sox, and being the first team to do so all year.

Extending their latest winning streak to a season-high-matching eight games.

Improving their record to 70-61, nine games over .500 for the first time in more than three years.

Making a significant statement, and raising an intriguing question.

First, the statement.

"By sweeping them, we showed a lot,'' said starter Blake Snell, who led the way in earning his 16th win, tied for most in the majors pending the outcome of Sunday's late game. "We're a good team. And when we are clicking, we're scary.

"I think the combination of how good our defense is, how good our pitching is, bullpen and starters. And then with us swinging it the way the way we swing it. I haven't seen a team play this well in a while. So for us to do it against Kansas City and then get Boston, the best team in the league right now, to be able to do that to them, it says a lot about our team. I'm excited. I'm excited to be in this clubhouse with these guys and to see them compete every day is a lot of fun."

And now, the question.

Can these Rays — these Rays, projected for 100 losses, given up on at multiple points this season — show something even more impressive, making a run for a playoff spot over the final five weeks?

The American League standings would seem to say no, that it's too little, too late, as they are nine games out of the second wild-card spot held by the A's, who never seem to lose, and have the Mariners between them, with 31 games left.

Then again, they only have to look at page 299 of their own media guide to see that the 2011 Rays were nine games out with 24 to play and — thanks to a, um, slight collapse by the Red Sox and some Game 162 magic — played their way into the postseason.

"Keep talking about Oakland and Seattle — it'd be fun to just creep in and take it from both of them,' Snell said. "We've got a lot of baseball left, but I think if we continue to just do what we're doing right now and continue to focus on all of us getting better and better, I definitely see us having a chance to make a playoff push.

"I've said it for a while now, and I'm going to continue to say it, this team, I could see us being in the playoffs. I know all of us are going to fight real hard to get into the playoffs, and I think we have a really good chance.''

The forecast isn't too favorable, obviously, fangraphs.com's computers giving the Rays, going into play Sunday, only a 0.2 percent chance of making the playoffs. And the schedule is somewhat foreboding, as they go on the road next to play the NL East-leading Braves for two games, then the AL Central-leading Indians for three, with another three against them back at the Trop, plus remaining series against the A's and the first-wild-card-holding Yankees.

With a little more experience and perspective as a member of the Giants' 2014 World Series championship, Rays third baseman Matt Duffy has a more tempered but somewhat similar view of his team's chances. He reminds that beating bad teams is also imperative (as the Rays' 2-4 mark versus the White Sox and 8-8 versus the Orioles might haunt) and that anything truly can happen.

"There's always that possibility,'' he said. "We understand the odds and where we're at with the standings. … We have to continue to do what we did this past week against Kansas City. I kind of keep going back to that because teams that are struggling, it's easy to kind of let your guard down and let them take a game or two.

"So for us, continue to play it one game at a time and maybe we'll look up in a couple weeks and find ourselves in the hunt.''

If not, they'll always have this weekend.

The last time the Rays swept a series from the Red Sox, in May 2014, Snell was pitching in Class A and Kevin Cash was working as the Indians' bullpen coach.

Obviously the Rays played really well, the combination of pitching — and it was a combination, with openers and closers and a whole bunch in between — and clutch hitting and tidy defense all coming together for a lopsided 24-5 composite.

Starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi saw it from the other side — traded from the Rays to the Red Sox on July 25 — as he was knocked out after four innings Sunday.

"They're a very streaky team. They've had their ups and downs,'' he said. "Right now, they're swinging the bats as well as anybody. The pitching has been pretty good all year. Right now, they're playing really good baseball."

To be fair, the Red Sox, who despite those 90-win credentials have lost six of eight, were complicit by not playing well, looking sluggish and out of synch.

"Just a bad weekend,'' manager Alex Cora said. "They're playing great baseball, and they play great here (41-24 under the tilted roof)."

Cash seemed to teeter between wanting to give his team credit for what it did — which turned out to be its first undefeated multi­series homestand in history with the preceding four wins over the Royals — but not make too much of it either.

"It's good to be excited about doing what we did this home­stand,'' he said. "But good teams find ways to do this more often than not. I think we're a good team. I know we're a good team. And we continue to trend that way."

Contact Marc Topkin at mtopkin@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Rays.