2017 BOSTON RED SOX ...
A TEAM THAT COULDN'T GET THE JOB DONE ...

On paper, the Red Sox had no business winning 93 games this season. After all, that total had been achieved a year ago by a team that looked like a juggernaut, a drastic contrast to this year’s duct-taped roster.

So how on earth did they do it? Put simply, the Red Sox delivered one of the most dominant pitching seasons in team history. The team ERA was 3.70, roughly two-thirds of a run better than the American League average of 4.37. That marked the second-greatest margin by which the Red Sox have ever beaten their league, topped only by a carried-by-Pedro 1999. The Red Sox outperformed the league by 15.3 percent. It was their biggest margin since Babe Ruth was a member of the rotation in 1918.

The Red Sox knew that with the loss of slugger David Ortiz, they would have to build around that core, while hoping a couple of veterans, like Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez, would return to form at the plate. The vets did not pan out as hoped: Sandoval was a bust and Ramirez underachieved. Tyler Thornburg, their anticipated eighth-inning reliever, never pitched. Nearly every member of the lineup underperformed his 2016 production.

Going after Chris Sale was a brilliant counter-move, the absolute perfect transaction needed to shore up a listing rotation at the perfect time. Considering all the hype bestowed on him, when the Red Sox traded for him last December, it's amazing that the left-hander lived up to it. His starts became events at Fenway Park, as he turned in the best overall season by a Boston starter since Pedro Martinez. Though Sale had some struggles late in the season, he had Fenway Park rocking in Game #4 of the ALDS with four innings of dominance out of the bullpen, before tiring in the eighth.

Sale had the 35th 300-strikeout season in MLB history (dating back to 1900), and he led the Majors with 10 scoreless starts. The only other Red Sox starters, with as many as 10 scoreless starts in a season, were Pedro and Babe Ruth.

In just about any other year, Sale wouldn't have any competition for best pitcher on the staff. But closer Craig Kimbrel was every bit as dominant as Sale. The fact that the fireballer led Major League relievers in WHIP (0.68), and his strikeouts per nine innings ratio (16.43) underscores that simply making contact against Kimbrel was a victory for opposing hitters. Not only did Kimbrel have power, but he also had impeccable control. He became the fourth reliever to reach 100 strikeouts before issuing his 10th walk. He whiffed nearly half of the batters he faced (126 out of 254).

While Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel were the headliners in that effort, the contributions extended far beyond that duo. The Red Sox bullpen had 10 pitchers with an ERA compared to league average of 30 percent above average), tied for the most in AL history. Top to bottom, this staff ran deeper in above-average contributions than any in team history and, for that matter, any team’s history. There was no soft underbelly, no weak link, particularly once the addition of Addison Reed solidified the bullpen structure.

Drew Pomeranz was as fun to watch as any pitcher they ever had who wasn’t considered a lockdown No. 1 starter, not mention one who actually showed up for big games (2.29 ERA in seven postseason starts). Pomeranz’s final stats were pretty similar to a typical Bruce Hurst year during his 1986-88 Red Sox peak.

DREW POMERANZ

But Steven Wright, another starter expected to play a large role, lasted five starts before undergoing season-ending knee surgery. Rick Porcello, the Cy Young Award winner in 2016, lost 17 games. David Price was injured most of the year and made only 11 starts. Given the pitchers the Red Sox lost, Thornburg, Wright, and Price, the overall performance is astounding, particularly given the concerns that hovered at the start of the year.

In theory, replacing lost run production from Ortiz’ departure with better run prevention made sense. And in practice, the 2017 Red Sox were good. Good enough to win the AL East. But the 2017 Red Sox were not a better team than the 2016 version, unless you consider one victory in ALDS as something to applaud.

The Sox failed to build a playoff-series winner because their biggest regular-season flaw was laid bare by the Astros in 3-of-4 games. The Sox were outscored, out-hit, out-homered and out-slugged. For the season their run production was at 4.85 runs a game, just a tick above the league average 4.71. Their home runs (168) were dead last and their slugging percentage (.407) was next to last.

Sandoval, a redemptive figure in spring training, was released in July. Hanley Ramirez, who so badly wanted to replace Ortiz as the designated hitter, had one of the worst seasons of his career.

Dustin Pedroia spent virtually the entire season playing on the injured left knee, one that required surgery last offseason and that seemingly never recovered from the hard slide by Manny Machado. He required three separate stints on the disabled list, including two for his knee that cost him virtually all of August. While he posted a solid average (.293) and a strong .369 OBP, his power was sapped (.392 slugging) for most of the season outside of July, just before his knee prevented him from playing for nearly five weeks. While Pedroia initially enjoyed a two-week surge upon his September return, and his efforts to contribute drew considerable admiration in the clubhouse, his production nose-dived in mid September. He went 3 for 36 to conclude the regular season and 2 for 16 in the playoffs, culminating in the last game, going 0 for 5 in which his called strikeout with the bases loaded and one out in the second inning stifled a rally and led to the ejection of manager John Farrell.

Health was the foremost issue that hovered over Pedroia this year, but it wasn’t the only one. The retirement of Ortiz unquestionably changed the clubhouse dynamic. Pedroia, the team’s longest-tenured player, was expected to assume a larger leadership role. Publicly, he didn’t fill the void left by and if anything, he raised questions about the clubhouse culture with the two foremost off-field controversies of the year.

Even homegrown All-Stars Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Mookie Betts were less productive than a year ago. Rookie left fielder Andrew Benintendi emerged as a star, and the Sox found their replacement for Sandoval at third base in baby-faced power hitter Rafael Devers, a 20-year-old.

Betts, while unsatisfied with his season, was one of eight players in the majors with at least 100 runs and 100 RBIs. But because he did not match his Troutian 2016 season, his batting average fell 54 points (.318 to .264) it felt somewhat disappointing. It’s really not, though, if you can recalibrate it to look at it like this: The Red Sox have a 24-year-old right fielder who hit 24 homers, stole 26 bases, walked a career-high 77 times, scored 101 runs, drove in 102, had an .803 OPS, and played beautiful defense. That is a franchise player.

Hanley Ramirez was charming and exasperating within a single at-bat. Frustrating all season long, he never really got going and finished with one more homer this year (23) than he had after the All-Star break last year (22). He was second to Betts on the team in homers. He had 553 plate appearances in the middle of the Red Sox lineup but drove in just 62 runs.

But presumed good-field, no-hit catcher Christian Vazquez batted .290. The lineup as a whole finished last in the American League in homers and didn’t hit a single grand slam. The Sox were forever recalculating, becoming what they so rarely have been: a team that relied on dominant pitching while the offense scratched for runs. They ran the bases recklessly, had 30 runners nailed at home.

The Sox bullpen, with Addison Reed, Barnes, Hembree, Scott, Kelly, Fernando Abad, Brandon Workman, Blaine Boyer, Austin Maddox, Ben Taylor, and at the end of the season, Smith and Price, navigated a season-long tightrope in shockingly successful fashion. Its depth it was an enormous separator, in many ways responsible for the Sox’ AL East title. The pitching staff permitted the Red Sox to fashion late-inning wins in a way unmatched in the majors this year, with the most stunning example being the team’s 15-3 record in extras, statistics that suggested a sense of purpose.

They danced in the outfield after wins, and mocked authorities when they were caught using electronics to steal signs. They never admitted they were wrong about anything. Red Sox fans never embraced this team and it’s because the 2017 Sox were stubborn, thin-skinned, and ultimately not clutch.

In many ways, the second game of the season, on April 5th, represented the 2017 season. Though Chris Sale was dominant over seven shutout innings in his Red Sox debut, the lineup couldn’t offer him any backing. Yet Sale’s shutout effort was extended by Matt Barnes, Kimbrel, Heath Hembree, Robby Scott, and finally Joe Kelly, allowing the Sox to claim a 3-0 win in 12 innings.

Hanley Ramirez changed a dreary game in a flash on April 15th, his two-run double in the eighth inning helping deliver the Sox to a 4-3 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

On April 20th, Chris Sale allowed four singles and a walk over eight dominant innings and struck out 13. He threw a remarkable 80 of 102 pitches for strikes.

Then on April 21st in Baltimore, in what appeared to be a routine play at second base in the eighth inning, Orioles star Manny Machado aggressively barreled into Dustin Pedroia and injured the second baseman’s left knee.

Traditionally, a team would exact revenge by having a pitcher hit Machado in his back or legs his next time up. The Red Sox took no action the next day. But two days after the incident, on April 23rd, Matt Barnes threw a fastball that nearly hit Machado in the face. The ruckus took attention away from Eduardo Rodriguez, who threw six shutout innings. He allowed one hit, walked five, and struck out seven. Rodriguez had a 1.34 earned run average in six starts at Camden Yards.

The situation worsened May 2nd, when Sale threw a pitch behind Machado’s back, nearly two weeks after the initial incident. The Sox appeared rudderless.

But on May 11th, for eight inning, it was one aggravating moment after another for the Red Sox at Miller Park. They wasted a strong start by Rodriguez and missed several scoring opportunities against the Milwaukee Brewers. The road trip was in danger of ending in ruin with a third consecutive loss. Then Mookie Betts fixed everything. His three-run homer in the ninth inning lifted the Sox to a 4-1, now-you-can-exhale victory. Facing Brewers closer Neftali Feliz, Betts sent a fastball over the fence in left for his fifth homer. When Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth inning on nine consecutive pitches, joining Pedro Martinez and Clay Buchholz as the only pitchers in franchise history to accomplish this feat, commonly referred to as an immaculate inning.

The Sox got seven scoreless innings out of the bullpen to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4, in 13 innings on May 17th. The winning run came on a pinch-hit single by Chris Young with two outs in the 13th. Mitch Moreland doubled with two outs, his pop-up down the line in left landing inside the foul line and bouncing into the stands. The Cardinals intentionally walked Jackie Bradley Jr. to get to the pitcher's spot. Young came out of the dugout and knocked the second pitch he saw into center field.

Chris Sale was careful never to use lack of run support as an excuse when he pitched well enough to win several times in April and came away with either no decision or a loss. The lefthander instead predicted his teammates would have his back plenty of times as the season wore on. Sale had it right on May 24th. Down by two runs, he watched the Sox score seven times in the seventh inning and go on to beat the Texas Rangers, 9-4. The Sox sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning and blew the game open for their ace. In his major league debut, Sam Travis was 2 for 4 with a run scored.

The Sox scored 10 runs in Sale’s five starts in April. They scored 39 runs in his five starts in May.

On June 4th, Sale gave the Red Sox six good innings. The result was a 7-3 victory against the Baltimore Orioles that was equal parts scruffy and satisfying for the ace. The run support Sale needed came from Andrew Benintendi, who was 3 for 4 with two home runs, three RBIs, three runs, a stolen base, and a walk. Jackie Bradley Jr. drove in two runs and scored another. Blaine Boyer, Robby Scott, and Matt Barnes stitched together the final nine outs, leaving the Orioles scoreless after the first.

Jackie Bradley Jr had a seven-pitch battle with Alex Wilson of the Detroit Tigers, with the game tied in the eighth inning on June 9th. He fouled off four pitches before finally blasting a two-run shot into the right field bleachers for the go-ahead home run that helped pushed the Sox to a 5-3 victory.

The Sox bullpen made Bradley’s heroics count for something, delivering 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Hembree, Kelly, Barnes, and Kimbrel allowed only three hits and a walk and fanned eight. Kimbrel turned in another 1-2-3 outing, striking out two to earn his 18th save.

Dustin Pedroia got up in the 11th inning with a runner on second base, grounded a single into right field and Deven Marrero scored with a headfirst slide to give the Sox a 6-5 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies on June 12th.

The next night, June 13th, the Sox found themselves in extra innings. They once again had to rely on a bullpen that hasn’t done much budging this season and timely hitting. Between Scott, Boyer, Kimbrel, Hembree, and Abad, the Sox bullpen pitched six shutout innings to keep the Sox afloat. In the 12th inning, Benintendi delivered. With runners on first and third, he laced one into the right field corner for a ground-rule single that gave the Sox a 4-3 walk-off win.

After going 2 for 4 with a homer and a go-ahead single in the Sox’ 6-3 win over the Minnesota Twins, on June 29th, Mookie Betts went 6 for 12 with a homer, a double, and three RBIs over the four games with the Twins.

The contributions came up and down the lineup. Jackie Bradley Jr. went 3 for 4 with an RBI double. Hanley Ramirez blasted his 11th homer of the season. Making a spot start for Pedroia at second base, Tzu-Wei Lin went 2 for 4 for the first multihit game of his career. Deven Marrero had a double and two RBIs.

Then on a flight to Toronto, after the game, David Price confronted NESN broadcaster Dennis Eckersley, cursing at him for what he perceived as negative commentary about teammate Eduardo Rodriguez. Fans then turned on Price. But he refused to apologize to Eckersley, a respected Hall of Famer. John Farrell offered little other than to say he had spoken to Price. It was another situation Ortiz likely would have moved to defuse.

But the controversies, however poorly handled, did not affect the team’s play. On July 2nd, Drew Pomeranz was sharp again in a 15-1 rout of the Blue Jays. He was 5-1 with a 2.54 earned run average in his last eight starts, pitching deeper into games than he did earlier in the season and at a quicker tempo.

The bottom half of the Red Sox lineup picked up the top half a July 4th blowout. In total, the top three batters in the Red Sox lineup went 1-16 while the bottom four went 14-19. Andrew Benintendi rose above the rest of the team and stood out as the night’s best performer. He came through with a hit in the first inning with a runner in scoring position to knock in the first run of the game and knocked in a total of five runs on the day. It wasn’t just the bat, either. Benintendi also made an incredible catch out in left field before hitting that home run to save at least one run from crossing the plate. He decided to rub it in later in the game, too, when he hit a fly ball down the left field line that just barely made it over the wall for his second dinger of the night.

The Sox scored twice in the ninth inning to beat the Yankees, 5-4 on July 14th. Benintendi again won the game, drawing a bases-loaded walk off Aroldis Chapman. His reaction was to step back from the plate, bend over to take the shin guard off his right leg and trot to first base. Without getting the ball out of the infield, the Sox rallied to the game. Two infield singles, an error, and two walks beat Chapman.

Two days later, on July 16th, Aaron Judge slugged a high fastball in the eighth inning on the second game of a doubleheader. Jackie Bradley Jr. turned and ran, but not too fast. He wanted to make sure he had his steps timed to arrive at the fence just when the ball got there. When he got in position, he turned so his back was against the wall and jumped just high enough to catch the ball and bring it back over the metal railing. Matt Barnes, warming up a few feet away, put both hands on his head in disbelief. The sellout crowd roared, having witnessed one of the best catches ever made at Fenway Park in a 3-0 victory against the Yankees in the second game of a day/night doubleheader.

The Sox rallied to erase a 3-1 deficit on July 18th, but when the clock struck midnight the Red Sox were still in the middle of a game with no end in sight. In a 15-inning battle, they outlasted the Blue Jays on the way for a 5-4 win. They were able to shut the lights out on the ballpark when Hanley Ramirez smashed a first-pitch curveball over the Monster seats for walk-off homer.

On July 26th, the Sox traded two minor league prospects to the San Francisco Giants for Eduardo Nuñez. It paid off almost immediately. On July 29th, Nuñez continued to show off a strong stick with his new team. With the scored tied at 8-8, against Kansas City, Matt Barnes tossed a scoreless tenth.  The Red Sox started things with a double from Sandy Leon. After intentionally walking Mookie Betts the Royals were left to face Nunez with two on and one out. A wild pitch moved both runners to scoring position, and Nuñez hit a ground ball to shortstop. Alcides Escobar made the diving stop and got the out at first, but then Leon broke for him. The throw easily beat him, but the Red Sox catcher nimbly avoided the tag and got in for the 9-8 walk-off win.

The Sox finished July, as Doug Fister, who the Sox claimed off waivers from the Angels, pounded the strike zone and the edges of the zone that resulted in a ton of weak, unthreatening contact against the Indians in a 6-2 victory on July 31st, with seven shutout innings.

The Sox moved into first place for good August 1st. They were 43-30 after the All-Star break. Perhaps it's no coincidence that was also the date they won a game as entertaining as any played in MLB this season. It ended with Christian Vazquez hitting a majestic three-run, walkoff homer to center with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The Sox trailed, 5-0, then later tied it. They later came back from deficits of 7-5 and 8-7 before the surreal 10-8 win.

On August 4th, it was another walk off. For the 12th time this season and the fifth time since the All-Star break, the Red Sox found themselves in extra innings. For much of this game, it was frustrating because of  the offense’s poor performance at the plate. They didn’t get their first baserunner until Vazquez snuck in a single in the third, and they didn’t really get anything going until the fifth inning. At this point, they were trailing 2-0 and it looked like it was going to be another shutout.

Boston finally got a rally going in the fifth to tie up the game, and it was of course started by Rafael Devers. The Red Sox then failed to get much of anything going against a, frankly, bad White Sox bullpen. In the 11th, however, Mitch Moreland came to the plate for his first at bat of the game after coming in for Hanley Ramirez earlier in the game. Aaron Bummer hung him a slider and he didn’t miss it. The ball ended up in the Monster Seats and the Red Sox walked it off.

The game on August 6th, will be remembered as the Chris Young game, as the outfielder did it all for the Red Sox and virtually single-handedly gave the Red Sox the win while taking Mookie Betts’ spot in the lineup. Young knocked in five of Boston’s six runs on two dingers and a double and came through with the big swing whenever it was needed. Eduardo Nuñez knocked in the other run with a home run of his own. While Young was the story of the game, Doug Fister put together yet another solid start.

ANDREW BENINTENDI

On August 12th, Andrew Benintendi was up for the task as he put together one of the best individual games of the season against the Yankees. The Red Sox also got yet another solid performance out of Drew Pomeranz, though that was slightly overshadowed by the Benintendi show. The rookie outfielder came through with a couple of huge swings when his team desperately needed them. The first came in the third inning with two on and the score tied at two. Benintendi took a fastball down and in and ripped it over the fence in right-center field. Just like that, the Red Sox had a 5-2 lead.

The next big fly broke the game open. The Yankees had just scored a run in the bottom half of the fourth, pulling within two. In the top half of the fifth, Nuñez and Betts started with back-to-back hits to put two runners in scoring position for Benintendi. The rookie needed to at least get the ball in the air, but he did more than that. This time he got a hanging slider and the lefty crushed it. This one was another ball to right-center field, though a bit deeper than the first, and it gave the Sox a commanding lead and a 10-5 win.

But if you're looking for the one moment that brought the most joy to Boston's dugout, it happened on August 13th. The Red Sox were down, 2-1, in the top of the ninth against the Yankees, and Rafael Devers was facing flame-throwing closer Aroldis Chapman. Devers turned around a 102.8-mph fastball from Chapman for a game-tying homer to left-center that stunned Yankee Stadium. It was the hardest pitch hit for a homer since MLB started tracking pitch velocity in 2008. It was the first time Chapman had been taken deep by a left-handed hitter since 2011. And it was a glimpse of how no situation seems to faze Devers.

Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts came through in the ninth inning on August 16th, against the Cardinals, and that was enough for three runs and a 5-4 come-from-behind, walk-off victory.

What a wild 9-6 win against the Yankees, on August 18th, and wild is quickly become the norm for this Red Sox team. It was a roller coaster of emotions that included a strong start from Drew Pomeranz until the lefty was forced to exit early for back spasms. It included a couple of early dingers from Rafael Devers and Christian Vazquez, but most importantly, it included yet another late-game comeback from this lineup.

It’s becoming increasingly clear as the year went on, that this Red Sox team just didn’t quit. Thrilling comebacks became the norm, and it didn’t matter who they’re facing.

The September 5th contest at Fenway against the Blue Jays seemed like it would never end. But it finally did in the 19th, when Hanley Ramirez blooped a single to center that scored Mookie Betts.

It sure seemed like the Sox were down and out on September 15th, when they trailed the Rays, 5-2, at Tropicana Field heading into the ninth against closer Alex Colome, who had 44 saves at the time. After turning the tables on Colome to tie it in the ninth, Boston struck for seven runs in the 15th.

The Red Sox were addicted to extra-inning games and they keep winning them. On September 18th, in Baltimore, things started off looking depressing at every turn. Doug Fister got rocked and kicked out early. The bullpen struggled early on and the team didn’t get a scoreless inning until the sixth. Dustin Pedroia fouled a ball off his damn face.

Then, literally righty after he hit himself in the face oddly enough, things took a turn. The Red Sox offense came through with a huge rally in the middle of the game for a crazy comeback, and after a wild roller coaster ride they came through in extras once again. Although the bullpen struggled a bit early, this was yet another example of the relief corps coming through in the late innings just long enough for the offense to win the game, 10-8.

Then after a couple of long, stressful extra inning games to start this series, the Red Sox took control of the game on September 20th and never looked back. Chris Sale cruised through this Orioles lineup and looked as good as he has in a long time. He also got his big achievement for the year, striking out his 300th batter of the season in the last at bat of the game.

Sox fans heard the same old story on September 24th. The Sox, once again, fell behind by a few runs. But as they’ve done so many times before they led a late-game rally to take the lead. This time, it came in the eighth and it was led by Mookie Betts. It would be unfair to say he did it by himself but he was clearly the face of this comeback.

This rally started with a big leadoff walk from Vazquez that was followed by a single from Bogaerts. With the two leadoff men on, the Cincinnati Reds brought in Raisel Iglesias, who is their best reliever. At this point, Boston caught a huge break when Pedroia hit what should have been a double play ball, but it was misplayed and the Reds were only able to get the out at first. After Benintendi walked to load the bases, it was up to Betts to come through. That he did. With two strikes, Iglesias caught a little too much of the plate with a slider and Betts smacked it into the left-center gap for a bases-clearing, game-tying double. After Moreland popped out for out number two, Devers came up and hit a weak grounder to third base that he was able to beat out with some great hustle. That was huge, because Betts never stopped running and was able to score. It was truly incredible baserunning and a display of high baseball IQ to give the Red Sox the lead, and the eventual win, 5-4.

The Red Sox's strong showing in extras and ability to come from behind, was as big a factor as any in the club edging the Yankees by one game for the AL East title. For the second straight year, they finished first, but could not close out the season in good fashion. The Sox lost the ALDS to the Houston Astros, only winning one game. Sale, Pomeranz, and Porcello submitted terrible starts against the Astros. Kimbrel spit the bit in his only high-leverage game.

The only bright spot happened in Game #3. There were a few standout performances in this one, but none stand out like David Price. He pitched four incredible innings and shut down the Astros offense, the best in the majors, like it was nothing. There were times when it seemed impossible that he could keep going, but he gutted out a truly remarkable performance on the bump, earning himself all the forgiveness from this fanbase. Aside from Price, the Red Sox got a huge home run from Devers, a big all-around day at the plate from Ramirez, and a game-saving performance from Betts in right field. But that was the only feel food moment of the playoffs.

Including regular-season and postseason games, the Sox lost eight of their last nine in 2016, and eight of their last 11 in 2017. That’s 16 losses in their last 20 games of 2016-17.

The core players in the Sox lineup failed to deliver for a second straight ALDS. And therefore, in some important ways the 2017 season seemed like something of a step back. The season ended with John Farrell being released as the manager.