Red Sox’s September Futility Has Become Commonplace

Another historically bad stretch in September reflects poorly on Alex Cora and the state of the Red Sox franchise.

With playoff chances dwindling by the day last week and their backs against the wall, the Red Sox offense responded with a four-game stretch that was historically bad. First, in Tampa they had, without hyperbole, the worst series at the plate in the past century.

The 1909 Browns, in case you were wondering, were led in home runs by Hobe Ferris, who had four. The Red Sox somehow won one of those three games. Still, in the finale on Thursday, while most people were watching the Patriots soil themselves on national television, the Red Sox managed only one baserunner the entire night, on a Nick Sogard single. The 2-hour, 7-minute affair was over by 9:00 ET.

The next day, they somehow tried to outdo themselves. In a 12-inning, 4-2 loss to the Twins, the team tied the franchise record with 20 strikeouts. “They broke the record in extra innings so it doesn’t count, right!?” Well, as Matt pointed out in Friday’s recap, it tied a 20-strikeout Red Sox performance from a 14-inning game when Nolan Ryan was the Angels starting pitcher.

On Friday, they lost in agonizing fashion, showing a complete lack of fundamental baseball. In the seventh inning of a 1-1 game after a leadoff double, the top three hitters in their lineup all struck out consecutively. In the ninth, with a runner in scoring position and one out, there were two more K’s. In the tenth and eleventh innings, where they actually put a runner on base to start the inning, the team couldn’t get a runner home and ended all three extra innings … with strikeouts. “Lifeless” isn’t strong enough of a word.

Alex Cora’s squad did what they’ve done down the stretch for years now and given the casual Sox fan little-to-no reason to tune in to September baseball games. After Cora chose not to get tossed out of Friday night’s must-win game despite some subpar home plate umpiring, he instead decided to wait 36 hours and get thrown out in the first inning of Sunday’s meaningless doubleheader by going ballistic about a correctly applied call at second base.

The Red Sox entered the final week of the season at .500. But this is not about season-long expectations. Are the Red Sox who we thought they were in March? Absolutely. Their Over/Under in Vegas was at 77.5. Personally, I put them at 79-83 in our preseason predictions. It’s about the path that they took to get here.

Is this the result that we expected during the All-Star break, while sitting comfortably in a playoff spot, fresh off a series win against wild-card competitor Kansas City? Absolutely not.

Expectations change, and how a team deals with adversity and whether they believe in themselves is a huge piece of that puzzle. Take the Milwaukee Brewers, for example. Their preseason Over/Under was an almost identical 76.5. In the offseason, they traded their ace pitcher for a young, Major League-ready infielder, just like the Red Sox did. Their manager had just bolted to a division rival. Right before Opening Day, their elite closer, Devin Williams, went out for half the season with a back injury. On July 23, their leader on the offensive side, Christian Yelich, went out for the season with his own back injury.

On the date of Christian Yelich’s injury, the Milwaukee Brewers were 58-43. They’re 31-24 since.

Prior to the All-Star break, the Red Sox handled similar adversities in an impressive fashion. They had lost their biggest free agent addition, Lucas Giolito, to elbow surgery at the start of training, which was compounded by the fact that they had also traded Chris Sale. Before April even ended, their starting shortstop, Trevor Story, was lost (seemingly) for the season. Their starting first baseman, Triston Casas, was on the 60-day IL. Their starting second baseman, Vaughn Grissom, was still on the injured list (and would be demoted soon enough.) The team plugged holes by putting patchwork lineups together and rode an over-achieving pitching staff for months.

The most frustrating aspect is that there are no built-in excuses this season to exert such a lifeless effort when it mattered most. All of those injured, core players had returned. With the exception of Rafael Devers playing through injury, the team was at “full-strength.” Management also chose to invest in the team at the trade deadline, attempting to upgrade in four spots by bringing in two relief pitchers, a lefty starting pitcher, and a right-handed bat. Say what you want about the output of those acquisitions, but no one could wear an Underdog shirt in the dugout during this year’s stretch run.

Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images

Which brings us back to the recently extended Alex Cora. Overall, I’m pro-Cora. He manages aggressively in-game when it matters, gets on the umpires when necessary, stands up for his players, understands how to handle the media and win at the highest stage in Boston, and seems to create a good clubhouse culture. However, even though every season features a different team and tells a different story, this is the third year in a row that the Red Sox had a legitimate shot to make the playoffs and swooned in ugly fashion.

In 2022, the team was 45-36 in the first half. They were 33-48 in the second half. 78-84.

In 2023, they were 69-61 entering play on August 27. They were 9-23 after that date. 78-84.

In 2024, on the date of the All-Star Game, the Red Sox were 53-43. They’re 26-35 since. 79-78. (Including three wins since Saturday, after the Sox waved the white flag on the season. Thanks for waking up.)

The Red Sox don’t play in the National League Central as the Brewers do, but what they did have working in their favor was a collection of teams that did not want to grab any of the Wild Card spots in the American League. The Royals have lost seven-straight TWICE in the past four weeks. The Twins have been 11-22 in the past five weeks.

This team responded to being gifted a postseason spot by setting multiple records in futility in the same week when they had one final shot at playing in October. The Tigers went and took your spot. Sorry about that.

While we all know that it was unlikely that this Red Sox team was built for a deep October run, making the playoffs has value; it prepares your young players for that atmosphere in the future. Hearing what Fenway looks like and sounds like next month would drive guys like Triston Casas, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, Connor Wong, Kutter Crawford, Brayan Bello, Justin Slaten to want to get there again. Playing in front of 15,000 fans in September shouldn’t ever be the standard in Boston and for five of the past six years, that’s exactly what has happened. The team has made a commitment to Alex Cora for three more years so nothing is changing there, but something must change at Fenway in 2025.