The Boston Red Sox had one of their most active offseasons in recent memory this past winter.
They swung a massive trade for Garrett Crochet to be the leader of their pitching staff, and signed multi-time All-Stars Alex Bregman, Walker Buehler, and Aroldis Chapman.
These moves were made to help Boston return to the postseason for the first time since 2021, but things have not gone as planned in the first two months of the season.
The Red Sox are in fourth place in the AL East with a 27-31 record as June approaches. Injuries and Rafael Devers controversies have bogged Boston down, but there’s reason for optimism in Beantown.
Despite a less-than-ideal start to the season, MLB.com predicts the Red Sox are still bound for the playoffs.
Boston has a +12 run differential and an expected record of 30-28. The Red Sox are outsourcing their opponents but losing more games than the numbers suggest they should. Part of that can be attributed to bad luck, but a struggling bullpen is also to blame.
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The Red Sox have five relievers who are a combined 0-11 on save opportunities (Garrett Whitlock, Justin Wilson, Greg Weissert, Hunter Dobbins, and Zack Kelly).
These blown leads have led to a lot of close losses. The Red Sox are 6-15 in one-score games, second worst in Major League Baseball.
A winning percentage of 29% in one-score games is abnormally low and will almost certainly rise closer to the mean over the course of a full season.
Winning more close games will help Boston get back into playoff contention, and so will the eventual call-up of Roman Anthony, the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball.
Anthony is more than ready to make his highly anticipated MLB debut. With a batting average of .318 and an OPS of .978 in Triple-A this season, the 21-year-old is too dominant to keep stowed away in the minors.
Adding Anthony’s bat to the lineup would alleviate the loss of Bregman and might even ignite a spark that the Red Sox so desperately need.
It might seem like a lost season, but the Red Sox have plenty of time and enough talent (both on the major-league roster and waiting in the minors) to end their three-year playoff drought.
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