The Red Sox Are Red Hot
Today, one of our authors details Boston's recent awakening from a bottom-dweller to start the season to one of the most dangerous teams in MLB.
IBWAA members love to write about baseball. So much so, that we've decided to create our own newsletter about it! Subscribe to Here's the Pitch to expand your love of baseball, discover new voices, and support independent writing. Original content six days a week, straight to your inbox and straight from the hearts of baseball fans.
Pregame Pepper - Sox Social Scene
Leading Off
Red Sox Rising Up The Standings
By Tyler Maher
Boston Red Sox fans have grown accustomed to dramatic turnarounds from their team in recent seasons. The Red Sox went from worst to first in the AL East in 2012-2013 and 2015-2016, then nearly did it again in 2020-2021 before finishing second to the Tampa Bay Rays.
In 2022, their latest resurgence unfolded in a matter of weeks. They got off to a brutal start this year, losing 19 of their first 29 games as their offense sputtered and their bullpen suffered a string of late-game meltdowns. Boston quickly sank to last place in the AL East in early May, falling behind even the lowly Baltimore Orioles.
Since then, however, Boston’s been the best team in baseball. They’ve won 27 of their last 36 games, posting the best winning percentage (.750) and scoring the most runs in MLB (207) during that stretch. The Red Sox have lost consecutive games only once during that time while putting together three separate winning streaks of six games or more. A lot of teams have been playing great baseball lately, including their hated rivals from New York, but Boston’s been better than all of them.
It’s been a steady climb up the standings for the Red Sox, who were one of the worst teams in baseball in April (9-13), played .500 ball in May (14-14), and have been nearly unbeatable in June (18-4). Boston’s gone from last in the division to second, albeit still 11 games behind that pesky team in the Bronx.
The Red Sox are red-hot because they are firing on all cylinders. Whereas only a few of their hitters were producing in April, the bats have woken up from their early-season slumber (most notably Trevor Story’s). After averaging an anemic 3.28 runs per game during their 10-19 start, they’ve scored a robust 5.77 runs per game over their last 43 contests.
The bullpen has also stabilized after letting far too many games slip away in the early going. The Red Sox have finally found a reliable closer in Tanner Houck, ditching their disastrous closer-by-committee approach.
The rotation has remained a strength all season long despite being loaded with question marks and not getting a single pitch from Chris Sale or James Paxton. With Nick Pivetta emerging as a co-ace alongside Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha carrying over his strong finish to 2021, and Rich Hill continuing to provide quality innings at age 42, there isn’t a single weak spot there.
The Red Sox have even been playing sharper defense and running the bases better than last year, reducing some costly and frustrating mistakes.
They’ve also remained relatively healthy, avoiding the types of major injuries to star players that can derail a season. Alex Cora has been able to pencil pretty much the same names into his lineup every day, while his top pitchers have mostly been available as well.
Whereas everything seemed to go wrong for Boston during that first month of the season, everything’s been going right for them over the last six weeks. It’s not going to last forever, of course, as we’re not even halfway through the season yet. There’s still plenty of baseball left to be played, and the AL East is shaping up to be a dogfight with four teams in playoff contention.
At least the Red Sox are one of those them, which wasn’t the case not too long ago.
Tyler Maher is a Content Editor for The Game Day who thinks the Yankees are long overdue for a losing streak.