Throughout the course of the season I have written various blogs about how the 2019 Boston Red Sox are not good enough to make a return to the World Series. I tend to be on the pessimistic side, so I would not fault any reader for scoffing at remarks I made about the bullpen, rotation, lineup, etc. Still, at the end of the day (not to toot my own horn) I was right. This team did not have it from the start, but things continue to look worse.
After going 5-2 in the first half of their 14 game stretch against the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees, Boston fell flat on their face by losing their next seven. The Sox losing streak actually sits at eight games considering Chris Sale laid an egg on Sunday Night Baseball a week ago.
A team that is fighting to make the playoffs can’t do that, especially when the teams you lose to are in front of you in the standings. Those 14 games were the most important stretch of the season for Boston and going 5-9 shows that this team is what they are: a talented team that can’t stay consistent.
Anyway you look at it the team has underperformed. There have been some standouts in Christian Vazquez, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, and over the last month Eduardo Rodriguez, but their performances have not been able to offset the horrendous performance of others. Devers .323 average is not going to change the fact that Rick Porcello has a 5.74 ERA.
It has been a routine this year of saying, “the Sox need to step up”, yet they never seem to do that. The time to do it was after Dave Dombrowski pretty much said the team was not worth investing in at the deadline, but instead Boston decided to fold and lose every game since Dombrowski said that.
Now sitting with a record of 59-55 this team needs to really kick it into gear, but I can’t imagine them doing that. They have the talent to do it no question, but like I said that has been the narrative all season. The Red Sox were supposed to turn this corner in April, May, June, and July, but have not. That’s why this team will just be remembered for disappointing Sox fans after a 119 win campaign.
-Jarrod Ribaudo (@Jribs53)