If there's one time you wouldn't want the wheels to fall off if you're the Boston Red Sox, it'd be going into the final weeks of the regular season, when a playoff spot has seemed locked up for a while now. But that's exactly what's happening. With the Red Sox dropping the finale of a three-game set with the Athletics on Thursday to lose the series, Boston is now just 1.5 games clear of the Cleveland Guardians for the final American League wild card spot. And it's just been simply ugly enough to legitimately put the Red Sox' hopes of seeing the MLB postseason in jeopardy.
Obviously, Roman Anthony's oblique injury — one that looks like it will sideline him until the ALDS at the earliest — has played a massive role in the dropoff for the Red Sox, especially considering that Boston's offense has fallen off a cliff since the young star was put on the IL. However, you would hope this would be a time when others would step up to keep the season rolling. Outside of a handful of players, most notably Trevor Story and (outside of one start) Garrett Crochet, that hasn't happened.
In fact, some of the guys manager Alex Cora and the fans were hoping would step have been some of the biggest culprits for the team's struggles. However, if you're an upset fan wanting to find someone to blame for the rapid decline of the Red Sox with only nine games left, these five players are where you should point the finger.
5. RP Greg Weissert
It'd obviously be foolish to pin a ton of blame on a single relief pitcher — unless, perhaps, their name was Jordan Hicks. However, Greg Weissert has been a bit of an issue for the Boston bullpen down the stretch in a way that's been entirely frustrating to fans. If you don't believe me, here's what Weissert had to say on Tuesday after coming in following 5.1 scoreless innings from starter Connelly Early, only to give up two RBI hits and a walk that ultimately cost the Red Sox the game in a 2-1 loss.
"We lose that game because I can’t do my job,” Weissert said. “It’s so important to get it to [Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman]. We’re fighting all game. Early pitches an unbelievable game and I go in there and do that bull**t. It sucks.”
That's somewhat been the M.O. of Weissert, though, especially down the stretch. The righty is tied for the MLB lead this season among qualifying players with nine blown saves. And while his 2.97 ERA might look reliable, exactly what happened in the situation with Early — he inherited one runner on first with one out — has been a theme of late, allowing inherited runners to come across.
Part of that might not be Weissert's fault, it should be said. With his heavy workload of more than 60 innings pitched already this season, perhaps there's fatigue, or just the simple fact that Cora shouldn't be relying on him in high-leverage situations. At the same time, the name of the game, especially in a playoff push, is to go out there and do your job. Weissert hasn't done that consistently enough when the bullpen is starving for right-handed reliability out of the bullpen.
4. DH Masataka Yoshida
It's worth noting that Masataka Yoshida has been hitting for far more average lately than he was when he initially rejoined the lineup earlier this season after a long-lingering shoulder issue. He's hitting just .240 on the season, but has been hitting .294 in the month of September across 11 starts. That's at least some progress but, at the same time, for someone who is only offering you their bat in the DH spot at this point, Yoshida simply has to be better overall than he has been.
Despite hitting nearly .300 for the month thus far, Yoshida has posted only a .650 OPS in September. Not only have just two of his 10 hits in 34 at-bats been for extra bases, both of which were doubles, but his once lauded eye at the plate has seemingly disappeared as he's no longer drawing walks. Among the 11 players who have played double-digit games in September, Romy Gonzalez (0) is the only other player with fewer than two walks.
There have been times in the season when Yoshida has certainly been someone fans wished was performing better, but it was passable or at least hand-waved because the rest of the group, Anthony in particular, was holding their own. In a dire power outage and amid a streak where scoring runs has looked exceedingly difficult, the fact that Yoshida is a light-hitting DH right now is becoming tough to stomach as it comes off as a detriment to the offense — even if he does have seven RBI on the year.
Put simply, the Yoshida issue (.618 OPS with two home runs, one of which came off a position player) has been there for some time, but the team's struggles in September have heightened it to the point that even his positive contributions this month still haven't felt like enough.
3. CF Ceddanne Rafaela
You could easily argue that no one on the Red Sox and perhaps in baseball was hotter going into the All-Star break than Ceddanne Rafaela. From June 1 to the final game before the break on July 13, the future Platinum Glove centerfielder posted a slash line of .316/.350/.654/1.004 across 37 games with 12 doubles, 11 home runs and 28 RBI. He seemed to be in the midst of his breakout, and came up with one huge moment after another, which doesn't even mention his all-world defense.
But right now, that defense is all that he's giving Boston. He's still going to be in the lineup almost every day because of his ability to man the outfield better than anyone in baseball right now. However, it's becoming tough to watch him at the plate, as any semblance of discipline or seeing the ball well seems to have gone entirely by the wayside.
Since the All-Star break, Rafaela has posted a .499 OPS across 210 plate appearances with just two home runs, eight doubles and one triple, but that comes while striking out 45 times in that span as well. What's worse, it's reached a near-breaking point in September as he is hitting .122 with a .372 OPS across 15 games with 16 strikeouts in 53 plate appearances and only one extra-base hit, a homer, to show for it.
Again, it's hard to justify taking him out of center field in any case because of how game-changing his glove can be. That's doubly true with the lack of bodies available after the injury to not just Anthony but Wilyer Abreu as well. However, Rafaela has gone from just hot-and-cold or inconsistent at the plate to being a downright detriment to this offense when they could desperately use him heating up.
2. SP Brayan Bello
One of the most positive developments throughout the 2025 season was the establishment of the top of the rotation behind Crochet, the undeniably ace of the staff. That was thanks to veteran Lucas Giolito finding his old form and Brayan Bello seemingly entering a breakout campaign. Both have undeniably taken a step back in the later parts of the season, but it seems like the often more dominant Bello has actually regressed in a way that displays a number of his pre-2025 issues.
After a dismal outing, allowing four runs in 4.0 innings in the series finale loss to the A's, Bello is now sporting an unsightly 5.85 ERA across four starts in September. That's bad enough, but watching it play out has been even rougher. The biggest indicator of that is the fact that his four starts have lasted just 20.0 innings, while he's given up nine walks to only 13 strikeouts to go along with the 14 runs allowed (13 earned).
One of the biggest problems when Bello was at his most frustrating prior to this season was his inability to go deep into games, largely due to a lack of command. These short outings and high walk numbers have been right in that mold, and it couldn't come at a worse time. With the offense scuffling due to the absence of Anthony and Abreu, the starting pitching has needed to hold up the offense yet again, and Bello unequivocally hasn't been able to hold up his end of the bargain of late.
1. 3B Alex Bregman
Above any other guy mentioned here, though, the one player you would hope would be rising to the occasion in the Red Sox offense's biggest moments of need would be the veteran star they brought in, Alex Bregman. Unfortunately, that's just not been the case, as he's actually posted the second-worst OPS on the team with more than five plate appearances in September, behind only Rafaela.
Bregman is hitting just .194 with a .555 OPS through 15 games in September, hitting just one home run and three doubles across that span — and that homer barely scraped the Pesky Pole when it happened against the Yankees. There are some positives that are right in line with what you expect from Bregman, notably including just seven strikeouts in 62 at-bats, along with drawing six walks. However, it's been the contact that's been an issue at this time.
Just on the eye test, Bregman's timing looks off at the plate. He's rolling over and fouling off pitches that he would normally be tattooing pull-side and doing damage with. His ride on the struggle bus has been so real that Cora even moved him down from the No. 2 spot in the lineup, where he'd been hitting basically exclusively since the Rafael Devers trade, to No. 3 behind Trevor Story.
The struggles of Bregman at the plate have been the biggest thing hurting the Red Sox as they limp to the finish line. He's the player that everyone, perhaps in the clubhouse too, is relying on to stabilize this roster in a time of need, and that hasn't been happening. Unlike some of the others on this list, though, the one silver lining with Bregman is that there is far more hope that he can snap out of this in an instant because of his proven veteran moxie and get right back to the player everyone in Boston know he can be (and is desperately hoping he will be again soon).