Roman Anthony’s injury was a gut punch for the Boston Red Sox. It was obvious at the time, and it’s only become more obvious in the last week and a half.

Entering Saturday, Boston is 3-5 in its first eight games since Anthony suffered a left oblique strain on Sept. 2. They’ve struggled to find an adequate replacement as the leadoff hitter against right-handed pitching, and none of the other stars have stepped up to carry the freight on offense.

Getting Anthony back at all this season remains in question. The loose timeline that has been most commonly suggested is four to six weeks, which creates some optimism that the 21-year-old would be able to rejoin the Red Sox in the playoffs — if they make it that far.

In a recent video mailbag, Red Sox insider Ian Browne of MLB.com gave his take on the return timeline: He doesn’t believe the low-end four-week estimate is particularly realistic, and thinks sometime in the middle of the month, perhaps toward the end of the second week of October, could be more in play.

“I feel like the very soonest you could see Roman Anthony back in the Red Sox lineup is that Wild Card Series that starts on Tuesday, Oct. 1,” Browne said. “But that might not be realistic, that’s really at the minimum time that he’s gonna miss.

“So I think more realistic is the Red Sox can win that Wild Card Series, get to the Division Series, then maybe you get Anthony back at some point in that series. He’s such a big part of your lineup, that I think that if they could just somehow stay afloat, stay alive, stay in this thing until he gets back, then I think you get a little burst of momentum.”

Anthony was everything the Red Sox could have wanted, putting up 3.1 bWAR and an .859 OPS in just 71 games since he was selected from Triple-A on June 9.

At this point, rather than worrying about Anthony coming back at any point in the playoffs, the Red Sox just have to worry about holding on. Their lead over the Texas Rangers, the first team out of the playoff picture, has shrunk to three games, and Texas holds the tiebreaker. Boston’s magic number remains at 12 with 14 games to play entering Saturday.

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