The Boston Red Sox season ended with a 4-0 loss to the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the wild card round. While the Red Sox certainly had a chance to advance, they may have never been destined for a deep run.
The Red Sox’s season was a roller coaster in a sense. The team came in with high expectations. However, it failed to live up to the hype early on. Then the team traded Rafael Devers after an offseason full of drama. The team was plagued with injuries, relying heavily on young players. Despite all of the woes, the team found itself in a winner-take-all Game 3 in The Bronx.
The team had clear deficiencies going into October. Starting pitching was a question mark for most of the year, outside of Garrett Crochet. Roman Anthony’s injury also put the team in a tough spot, and in Game 3, the team missed his bat. NBC Sports Boston’s Michael Hurley felt that the Red Sox could have advanced past the Yankees, but “were never real contenders.”
“This was a team that overachieved, and their eight-win improvement from a year ago provides plenty of reason to celebrate Alex Cora and the players who made that happen,” wrote Hurley. “But this was not a team built for a deep October run.”
The Red Sox, to their credit, tried to put together a team that could at least compete with the Yankees, who finished tied for the most wins in the regular season in the American League. However, the patchwork was not good enough.
“It’s a team that tried to patch holes with Nathaniel Lowe (DFA’d by the last-place Nationals) and Dustin May (let go by the reigning-champion Dodgers amid another World Series run) while leaning entirely on a 21-year-old rookie in Roman Anthony to carry their offense,” wrote Hurley. “The Red Sox, quite simply, were not good enough.”
The Red Sox have something to look forward to next season. They have a young core highlighted by Anthony. Players like Ceddanne Rafaela, Marcelo Mayer, Wilyer Abreu and Anthony can be built around. The team also has money to play with in free agency, but the top priority may be keeping Alex Bregman around.
