After struggling out of the gate in this 2015 MLB campaign, the Boston Red Sox suddenly find themselves right back in the AL East race. The catch? Boston is still sitting at the very bottom of perhaps the most competitive division in the baseball world.

But unlike the Milwaukee Brewers – whose shot at NL Central glory is long gone since they are 19 games back of leader St. Louis Cardinals – the Red Sox are only a handful of games away from making the move from worst to first.

In order to get there, Boston will have to plow through a familiar foe, the New York Yankees, who currently lead the division. All of that could change quickly when the two fierce rivals square off in a crucial three-game showdown starting on Friday.

A couple of weeks ago, the main theme of this series would have been two clubs heading in opposite directions. But these days, the Red Sox are busy playing outstanding baseball while the Yankees are in a struggle to keep the pressure off in the AL East.

The casual baseball fan may feel the need to chuckle at a mid-season series being labeled with the “crucial” tag, but it’s entirely true. Given how close things have been in this division up to this point, we might very well see a situation where three or four teams grace the top of the East by season’s end. And since the Red Sox are the ones needing to make up the most ground, they need to do it now.

Boston has home-field advantage in its favor for the Yankees series, and it’ll be the last sweet taste of Fenway Park before they take to the road to open up the second half of the season.

Boston won’t be doing the post All-Star break road show against inferior competition, though. In seven consecutive days, the Red Sox will do a four-game battle with the Los Angeles Angels and then turn around to face the red-hot Houston Astros for three. Those two teams currently control the top of the AL West, and both are excellent at home.

So, Boston fans better understand the need to make up some ground in this Yankees series. Let’s say New York takes two of three, further increasing the lead in the division. And then let’s pencil in the Red Sox coming out of the seven games with L.A. and Houston with a losing record.

At that point, Boston could find itself with a major hill to climb. Since it’s already obvious how difficult the start of the second half of the season will be, a sweep against the Yankees would be quite the beautiful turn of events.

What could also aid the Red Sox is the fact that they are indeed the hottest team in the division right now. Despite the closeness of the AL East as a whole, the other four teams have cooled off heading into the much-needed break. The Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays are all under .500 in their last 10 games, allowing Boston to close the gap.

The Red Sox certainly don’t want to get in a situation where they are relying on others to lose in order to keep pace. That’s not a formula for success. The most simple formula has to do with just winning games.

Although the Yankees hold the edge in the season series with four wins in six games, a lot has changed for both clubs since they last met in early May. Boston finds itself in a much better situation, and perhaps its best of the entire campaign. A series win or even a sweep against New York will give the Red Sox the much-needed momentum heading into the break. And again, given the upcoming schedule, they’ll need it. Otherwise, the Red Sox could find themselves permanently placed at the bottom of the division for the rest of the season.

Joe Messineo is a Contributor for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter@JoeMess17, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.