The Boston Red Sox have had a whirlwind of a season, and there are several issues they need to address if they want a shot at postseason success.
The Boston Red Sox have had a highly inconsistent 2022 season. They are at the bottom of the AL East standings for the first time since 2015 and are the only team in the division below .500. Several issues need to be addressed if they want postseason success.
Their biggest issue is, simply, that they aren’t winning enough games. But if we dig a little bit deeper, there are specific problems that need to either be addressed or fixed if this team is going to sniff the postseason.
These three flaws, in particular, are harming their chances of getting an AL Wild Card spot and making it into the playoffs.
Red Sox: 3 flaws keeping Boston out of an AL Wild Card spot
The Red Sox bullpen continues to be painful to watch
The Red Sox have had bullpen issues all season, often closing their games with a complete meltdown. They don’t have many reliable pitchers in general, so they need all the help they can get.
Their most reliable bullpen pitchers are John Schreiber and Garrett Whitlock. Schreiber has produced an ERA of 1.91, batting average against of .183, and a WHIP of 0.85. This has been his best season so far.
Whitlock has done almost as well. He’s produced an ERA of 2.98, BAA of .211 and WHIP of 0.98. His ERA is much worse than last season (1.96), but his BAA and WHIP have improved. Moreover, a lot of that can be attributed to his stint as a starter early in the season. Aside from those two, players are either injured or unreliable.
The bullpen is one of Boston’s biggest weaknesses, and it’d be a good place to start to improve for future postseason success.
Unfortunately, the Red Sox starters haven’t been much better
The Red Sox have some major issues in their starting rotation that have seemingly only gotten worse with time. Their best healthy pitchers, Nick Pivetta and Nathan Eovaldi, have not performed up to the expected level.
Pivetta has produced an ERA of 4.51, BAA of .252, and WHIP of 1.33. Eovaldi has produced an ERA of 4.15, BAA of .270, and WHIP of 1.26. Though they are talented, their results likely won’t lead Boston to the playoffs.
They’ve also had a lot of trouble with veteran pitcher Chris Sale the past two seasons. He’s only played 11 games in the majors between 2021 and 2022 due to injuries, and after trying to come back from a hand injury, his season was ended when he broke his wrist by falling off his bike.
In general, the Red Sox have one of the worst rotations in the league. In all of MLB, they have the sixth-worst ERA (4.35), ninth-worst opponent batting average (.250) and seventh-worst WHIP (1.31).
They didn’t take advantage of the trade deadline to improve their rotation, so it may be too late for them to do anything about it this season. However, it remains a major area of concern that could haunt them for years to come if they don’t pay attention to it.
Red Sox need to get more production from their catchers
The Red Sox have made some interesting choices regarding their catchers lately. They recently traded Christian Vazquez to the Houston Astros, who was a highly reliable catcher with good results in the lineup.
They didn’t receive a catcher in return. They received two minor league players, which leave them with just Kevin Plawecki and Reese McGuire for catchers in the majors. The two don’t produce nearly the results Vazquez did in the lineup.
Plawecki is having an extremely difficult season and is hitting .163/.241/.228 for an OPS of .469. McGuire just recently joined the Red Sox from the Chicago White Sox. He’s hitting decent so far and is hitting .254/.287/.314 for an OPS of .601 this season. However, it’s incomparable to Vazquez’s .280/.322/.420 for an OPS of .742.
Trading away some of their best players is undoubtedly hurting their chances of getting a Wild Card spot this season.