It's win now time for perpetually overinvested Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox made the most of the Fourth of July, cranking out 16 runs on 19 hits against one of baseball’s best arms in the Texas Rangers’ Yu Davish. In the process, the Sox ran their recent winning ways out to six games, a season-best for a team that has finally become the hottest team in the American League. Boston also looks the part of the most complete overall team in the league by quietly racking up the wins of late.

The Red Sox are rolling into the All-Star break having seized control of the American League East and playing their best baseball of the year. It appears as if this team is rallying around the unfinished business from a year ago. If you recall, last season the Sox were armed with a new ace in David Price, Cy Young winner-to-be Rick Porcello, MVP runner-up Mookie Betts and on the final leg of the David Ortiz farewell tour. They expected to play into November. Instead, they were unceremoniously swept out of the postseason at the hands of the Cleveland Indians and found themselves right back where they began: big aspirations, unfilled potential and a clear need to do more.

Fast-forward to today, and Boston is seemingly in the same place it was a year ago now, like "Groundhog's Day" meets "Field of Dreams." It has been built, but the blueprint for what looks like a World Series regular has failed to come together.

Although Ortiz is gone, save for his return to see his No. 34 raised to glory along the walls of Fenway Park, it's been business as usual from a year ago. The Red Sox are armed with yet another high-cost addition to their rotation, with Chris Sale providing the boost David Price was supposed to last year but has yet to realize. Sale has thus far has delivered on his promise, spending the first half chasing strikeout records and fully justifying the top prospect package ransom he cost the team in return.

Meanwhile, Betts is headed to his second straight All-Star Game, and Xander Bogaerts to becoming the preeminent offensive shortstop in the American League. That's not all. Jackie Bradley is maturing past a flashy glove-wielding fourth outfielder into a legitimate threat. The maturation of Eduardo Rodriguez, Christian Vazquez and Matt Barnes has aided a core that is among the most impressive homegrown collections in the game. This is especially true for a team that has invested as much, as often, as the Red Sox have externally as well.

Speaking of those investments, many of which have come at a great cost, they're beginning to pull their weight as well. No team has sacrificed a greater combination of prospects and cash than the Red Sox have in their attempt to remain among the game’s elite. In the past three years, the team has jettisoned a who’s who of top prospects around the game to put this team together, a list that includes Manuel Margot, Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Anderson Espinoza, Javier Guerra and Yoenis Cespedes (and, by extension, Jon Lester) among others to put together the current club.

Add the over half-billion-dollar cost that Price, Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez, Moncada (who’s contract they maintained) a Porcello extension and (ouch) Rusney Castillo have cost the club over the last three years, and it is clear why stakes are so high for a team whose high mark over that time span has been the aforementioned sweep at the hands of the Indians and the current six-game winning streak.

That is roughly $2 million per victory over the past three years headed into today. With no pennant to show for those efforts, it is hard to let the Red Sox off the hook, especially since further additions may be needed. The loss of 2016 All-Star Steven Wright along with the struggles of Price and Porcello this season have further necessitated the need to potentially fortify the rotation down the stretch.

It is a daunting idea for an organization, that has put such fearless (and at times reckless) investment into its on-field product. Dombrowski is noted for being unafraid to make a blockbuster move, and he is helps run a team that caters to his natural sense of urgency — and make no mistake about it, these are urgent times for the Red Sox.

Despite their recent success, the Sox stand chiefly among American League teams with something to prove. All the tools are in place, from the field to the bench to the front office. John Farrell is a World Series-proven manager, just four years removed from the mountaintop. Dombrowski has put the considerable resources that owner John Henry has allocated to work on the roster. And it is a roster to behold, armed with a treasure trove of talents capable of leading many teams, combined here to make a run together.

The American League has a handful of phenomenal teams. The Indians proved their chops as an overall force. The Yankees have emerged as a precociously equipped lineup built around a handful of young prodigies. Meanwhile, the Astros have dominated the game at a mesmerizingly relentless pace. The Red Sox? Well, they possess a bit of all of thee above and rightfully should sit atop their league, if not the game in full.

The question only remains: Can they divorce themselves from shadows of their immediate past to realize the October success this franchise became known for in the 2000s? Time will tell, but make no mistake, it is championship or bust time in Boston, perhaps more so than anywhere else in the game today.