Poll: How are you choosing to view this Red Sox season?
The Boston Red Sox just earned what is likely their best series win of the season, taking 2-straight against the NL's-best Phillies after dropping the series opener. The issue is, it came after an inexcusable split series in the Windy City against a team that was riding a franchise-record losing streak and on pace to be one of the worst teams in the history of the game.
So are the daily struggles of the Sox in 2024. Though, really it's been going on for much longer than this year. Dating back to May 14, 2019, Boston is 367-366 in their last 733 games. That's five years and one month of .500 baseball. Remember, that includes a 92-win team in 2021 that made it to Game 6 of the ALCS. It also includes last place AL East finishes in 2020, '22 and '23.
The bats came to life the last two nights at Fenway, banging out 27 hits and 17 runs. The challenge now will be to not go silent tonight against Luis Gil (8-1, 2.04 ERA) and the Yankees, because that's been the trend through 69 games - Jekyll and Hyde.
It seems the Sox are destined to a 162-game odyssey of drifting around, within a game or two on either side of the .500 line. But that doesn't mean they can't be an enjoyable product to watch, or that they're not getting performances and contributions that could prove key in the future, when the hope is that the organization will return to being one of the big players in the sport.
There's development around the diamond with young players growing into major league roles. Not to mention the pitching, which has long been the issue with this team, has been the biggest surprise so far in '24.
It's not difficult to envision that with another bona fide starting pitcher or two, in addition to a big-money bat or two in the middle of the lineup, plus with the group of prospects just below the MLB level, that Boston could really be competing for something.
It likely won't be the case this year, though. So how are you looking at what appears to be yet another "bridge year" in Boston?