Back in mid-June, when everyone had buried the Red Sox, they somehow handled the division-leading Yankees with relative ease, including a three-game sweep at Fenway Park that wrapped on Father’s Day.

A few hours later, Rafael Devers — the team’s $330 million franchise cornerstone — was pulled off the tarmac at Boston’s Logan Airport and shipped to San Francisco.

For those outside the braintrust on Jersey Street — myself included — the Red Sox seemingly were plunging deeper into irrelevance, again turning into a punchline rather than playoff contender. It figured to be another dark October at Fenway, with the Yankees sprinting away with the AL East.

And yet, Alex Cora & Co. showed up Thursday in the Bronx at a place none of us could have expected, firmly entrenched in the second wild-car

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