Remember when all of ESPN’s analysis said that the Red Sox were going to run away with the American League East? Remember when they said this could be the year they win 100 games? Remember when Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez signed and every Yankee fan peed themselves in fear? Yes it is early in the baseball year but the Red Sox will not win the AL East, they won’t win 100 games and they will be the biggest disappointment since, the Yankees blowing a three game lead in the 2004 American League Championship Series.
Fourteen games into the Major League Baseball season the panic button has already been pushed in Boston. The Red Sox tied their worst start in franchise history (starting 2-9) and have winning records against two teams. The only silver lining in Boston is two of their victories came against the Yankees. So far they are 0-3 against the Rangers, 0-4 against the Cleveland Indians, yes THE Cleveland Indians, 2-1 against New York, 2-1 against the Toronto Blue Jays and 0-2 against Tampa Bay. They sit alone in last in the AL East standings.
What’s gone wrong? The bats are flat and the fastballs are flatter. It seems as if nothing can go right for Boston, the two superstars they signed this offseason, Carl and Adrian, are hitting .127 and .269 respectively. The Red Sox rank 23 of 30 in batting average this year hitting a mere .230 as a team overall. They rank in the bottom half in runs (19), batting average (23), and slugging percentage (25). All of these categories the Red Sox were supposed to excel in, but so far it’s not working out for them.
You’re probably thinking “what about the pitching? Historically it’s been good.” Not this year, they have one solid pitcher and the rest are trying to catch up. Two of the five starters have earned run averages over 12, that number is ridiculously high and nowhere near a championship caliber number. As a rotation their ERA is 5.80, when they score an average of just under four runs a game, that’s a recipe for disaster.
Any great team knows to win a championship they must be able to win on the road. Well, the Red Sox better learn soon. They finish up a home stand on April 18 and after that they go on a nine game road trip playing three different teams. So far, in seven games on the road, the Sox have been outscored 38-16. In four of those games opposing teams scored five runs or more. Oh and they are 0-7 so far on the road.
So before any television show says that it’s a long season and the Red Sox will get better, just remember the last three times the Red Sox started out 2-9 they went 47-105 (1925), 46-107 (1926), and 86-58 (1995).