2020 BOSTON RED SOX ...
"EMPTY STREETS, EMPTY SEATS" ...

On September 9th, Dave Dombrowski was fired as the Red Sox Chief of Baseball Operations. Then, on October 25th, Chaim Bloom was lured away from the Tampa Bay Rays and named as his replacement. J.D. Martinez exercised his option clause to stay with the Sox, and just before Christmas they picked up Reds secondbaseman Jose Peraza and pitcher Martin Perez from the Twins. In January they signed back-up catcher Kevin Plawecki.

Astros pitcher Mike Fliers blew the lid off the Houston Astros in November, admitting that they employed an intricate system for stealing signs in 2017. They used a television, adjacent to the dugout to pick up the catcher's signs. Then a garbage can was banged to alert hitters as to what pitch was coming. In the middle of all this was Red Sox manager, Alex Cora, who was then the bench coach for the Astros and accused of creating the system. So, on January 14th the Sox released Cora, who would later be suspended by MLB.

The big news however hacancelledened on February 10th. In a shocking move to cut expenses and stay under the salary cap, both Mookie Betts and David Price were traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong and Jeter Downs. And the Sox agreed to pick up half of the $96 million dollars owed to Price. That one move would seemingly hurt the team's chances of having a winning season. Even the front office admitted that it would be a rebuilding year.

Ron Roenicke was named as the Sox interim manager on February 11th. When spring training started, the Sox signed free agent outfielder Kevin Pillar, and pitcher Collin Hugh. But another knife was dug into the open wound when Chris Sale, who was battling pneumonia, announced that he would have to undergo "Tommy John" surgery and be gone for the season.

At the end of February, Dustin Pedroia was placed on the 60 day disabled list. and on March 12th, MLB and the rest of the world stocancelleded and went into quarantine, the result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Over the next few months, MLB and the Players Union negotiated plans on how to play a shortened season with no fans in the stands. Finally a 60 game schedule was put in place and the season commenced in late July. The Sox, like every other team, would be playing in an empty ball park without the motivational effects of Fenway fans to spur them on.

It was bad enough that the Sox were without Chris Sale, but then Collin McHugh opted out, deciding not to play. And finally the acancelledarent death blow was inflicted when Eduardo Rodriguez was stricken with Coronavirus. And as a result, he was diagnosed with an inflammatory heart condition, Myocarditis and was lost for the season.

ALEX VERDUGO

But the story of the 2020 Red Sox, as it turned out, was that they had two different seasons in the same year. They were the worst team in baseball in the month of August with 12-23 record and in September they played good, but inconsistent, posting a 12-13 record. Their late season success coincided with the arrival of two rookies, Bobby Dalbec and Tanner Houck.

Dalbec (.263 BA) slugged his way into the Sox lineup, after testing positive for COVD-19 in spring training, breaking records for home runs hit at the start of a career. In his first 10 major league games, he hit six homers, including a home run in five straight games.

And Tanner Houck dominated the three games he started, winning all three and posting a 0.53 ERA.

The Red Sox had only two of their starting pitchers left, Nathan Eovaldi and Martin Perez when the season restarted. Eovaldi pitched very well for the most part, winning four games in six starts, but hurt his calf halfway through the season. Over his final three starts however, after returning from the injury, he was 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 14 innings. For the year, he had 52 strikeouts and posted a 3.72 ERA.

Martin Perez (4.50 ERA) was fairly consistent but posted only three wins in eight starts. The rest of the pitching staff was unknown, pitching as if they were auditioning and they proved to be historically dreadful. The Sox pitched a new starting pitcher after another new pitcher without much success.

Phillips Valdez was acquired from the Texas Rangers during spring training and was probably the best best relief pitcher. He allowed just two earned runs in his first 21 innings. A couple of bad outings after that raised his ERA to 3.26

Because of the woefully inadequate starting pitching, the Sox were constantly playing from behind and couldn't get out of the hole they had dug for themselves, throughout most of the year. As the season progressed however, the hitters started mashing the ball, but it was too late. 

The most productive Red Sox player, without a doubt, was newcomer Alex Verdugo (.308 BA). With a fiery attitude he starred both in the field and at the plate, filling the big shoes left by Mookie Betts. Coming off a stress fracture in his lower back, he exceeded expectations, leading American League outfielders with seven assists, and leading the team in batting. He played with an infectious energy and would have easily fit in with the "Dirt Dogs" of 2004.

Xander Bogaerts had a great year and batted .300 with 11 home runs, 28 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. His home run total and RBI total was tops among American League shortstops. He finished the season with a 10-game hitting streak, with 18 straight games where he got on base.

Jackie Bradley Jr (.283 BA) started the season slowly and got himself into a big-time slump. But he busted out of it in September, batting .326 with six doubles, five homers and 11 RBIs.

Rafael Devers, an MVP caliber player, slugged some astonishing home runs with a powerful exit velocity and is clearly a part of the select young group of offensive superstars. Coming off a breakout year, he only showed flashes of his potential. After a slow start, he finally caught fire. He had six 3-hit games and two multi-homer games. Overall he batted .263 with 16 doubles. He led the Sox with 11 homers and 43 RBIs, but also led all thirdbaseman with 14 errors in 57 games.

Christian Vazquez was the Sox primary catcher and batted .283 with seven homers and 23 RBIs. He had four hits in a game against the Phillies. Vazquez started slowly in July, but hit .348 in August and .333 in September. He caught nine baserunners stealing, which was second in the league. And Kevin Plawecki impressed behind the plate when he got his chance to play. He batted .341 with a .857 OPS, playing i n just 24 games.

But J.D. Martinez, perhaps the best true hitter on the team, struggled all year, hitting .217 with six homers in 222 times at bat. He struck out an alarming 59 times.

The Sox started play at Fenway Park on July 24th. In the opener, against the Baltimore Orioles, Martinez reached base in his first four plate acancelledearances, including an RBI double to left in the third, a two-run double to right in the fourth and a hard single up the middle in the fifth. The Sox won 13-2 but it was all down hill from there.

They fell behind in the next four games, losing 2-of-3 to the Orioles, then two straight games to the Mets.

When the Sox and Mets moved over to CitiField to play again on July 29th. the prospect of facing Jacob deGrom was less than ideal, but Nathan Eovaldi did his part to hold his own against deGrom, allowing the Sox offense to break out against the Mets’ bullpen, scoring four times in the seventh and eighth to seize a skid-busting 6-5 win. The Sox won again the next night on the back of Christian Vazquez's two home runs, and third in two nights, 4 to 2.

The Sox then lost three straight to the Yankees. The only bright spot was Xander Bogaerts, going 7-for-11, with two doubles and two homers.

The pitching staff, through ten games, had a 5.79 ERA, the worst in baseball. The starters had an ERA of 6.69, worst in baseball. They gave up 17 home runs, the second worst in the majors. The Sox were trailing after three innings, in eight of their ten games.

Martin Perez dodged trouble for five innings and the bullpen was even better as the Red Sox put together a 5-0 victory at Tropicana Field to snap a four-game losing streak on August 5th.

Alex Verdugo had his break-out game as a member of the Red Sox, against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway on August 7th. He belted two ocancelledosite-field homers and finished his performance with a leaping catch to steal of a home run out of the Jays' bullpen in the ninth inning, sealing a 5-3 Sox win.

The Sox lost 2-1 in the next game as the Sox batters went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Players such as J.D. Martinez (.212 BA), Rafael Devers (.170 BA) Jackie Bradley Jr (1-for-26) and Andrew Benintendi (2-for-34) were all struggling at the plate.

Mitch Moreland emerged as the home run king for the Red Sox, belting out two homers, including the walk-off game winner n the ninth inning, to give the Sox a 5 to 3 victory over the Blue Jays in the series finale on August 9th.

The Sox lost four straight games to the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway, giving up 42 runs and allowing eight runs or more to be scored in each game. Constantly falling behind is a recipe for disaster and the Sox pitchers had allowed 49 runs in the first three innings of games so far this year. They trailed after three innings in 11 of their 19 games played. Not only was the pitching unreliable but they also were making mental miscues in the field and had baserunning blunders that cost them in the series.

They then went back to New York for another series with the first place Yankees and were blown out again in the four games. They had now lost 16 of their last 17 played against the Yanks and the pitching staff had given up an average of over nine runs per game.

The Sox offense also had been mediocre at best so far, averaging only 4.26 runs per game. Devers had looked lost and Martinez, without having access to the video room, looked bewildered. So far, Sox pitchers had combined for a 6.06 ERA and allowed 228 hits with just 185 strikeouts in 199 innings.

Then after losing nine straight games, the Sox finally came from behind and broke the streak, beating the Phillies at Fenway on August 19th, 6 to 3. Devers, who was batting only .183, collected three hits for the second straight game, including the hit that tied the game in the third inning. Five Sox pitchers were used and they allowed only three hits.

NATHAN EOVALDI

The Sox moved down to Baltimore and won the first game of the series, 7 to 1, thanks to a dominating performance by Nathan Eovaldi, walking one batter and giving up five hits. They had homers from Bogaerts and Moreland. They then won three in a row for the first time this season, by beating the Orioles in the second game on August 21st. Bogaerts homered again, along with blasts from Devers and Martinez.

But in the off-field news, closer, Brandon Workman and reliever, Heath Hembree traded to the Phillies for pitchers, Nick Pivetta and Connor Seabold.

And so, without two of their most reliable pitchers coming out of the bullpen, in the third game of the series, Martin Perez's strong outing was wasted, when what was left of the bullpen blew a two run lead. In the final game, Kevin Pillar (.278 BA) continued his excellent year at the plate and in the field, by hitting another home run. But slocancelledy base-running, lack of hitting, when it mattered and fielding errors by other Red Sox teammates, lost the game. The Sox split with the Orioles and remained in last place, 10 games behind at the midway point of the shortened season.

In Buffalo, the Sox and Blue Jays met on August 25th. The Sox again got behind and were losing 4-0, but then scored six runs in the sixth inning, to beat the Jays, 9 to 7. Phillips Valdez, Darwinzon Hernandez and Ryan Brasier together allowed just three hits after the Sox took the lead.

JACKIE BRADLEY JR

Alex Verdugo continued to lead the Sox offense, hitting in his 14th straight game. He had 30 hits and a .303 BA to lead the team. His five assists were also the highest in the American League.

Jackie Bradley Jr had taken a knee during the playing of the National Anthem. He decided he was not going to play on August 27th as did the NBA and most of the teams in baseball from, coast to coast. They decided to sit out their games to express their rage in the nation's racial injustice. The Red Sox, as a team, decided to join the protest movement sparked by the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The game with the Blue Jays was cancelled.

The Sox got a solid effort from their bullpen, who held a 5-3 lead over the Washington Nationals on August 29th. Bogaerts slugged a three-run home to give the Sox an early lead for a change and Pillar later homered. Alex Verdugo after a long run, turned and fired a strike to nail the runner at home. Verdugo led the majors in outfield assists, now with seven.

As the trade deadline acancelledroached and the Red Sox (12-21) were acancelledarently out of contention for making the playoffs, Mitch Moreland was traded to the San Diego Padres for prospects Hudson Potts (3B) and Jeisson Rosario (OF).

On August 30th, after the Sox jumped out to an early lead, the bullpen again did the job and held down the Nats again. The score was 9 to 5 in a wind-blown slugfest.

After the Moreland trade, rookie Bobby Dalbec was called up from Pawtucket to take his place. His first major league hit was a home run into the right field grandstand. It was accompanied by two home runs from Rafael Devers (4-for-4) and another from Bogaerts.

At the August 31st trading deadline, Kevin Pillar and Josh Osich were traded  to the Rockies and Cubs for players to be named later.

Also on August 31st, Alex Verdugo (.306 BA) showed why he had been one of the top Sox players defensively and offensively. He led the offense with three doubles in four at bats and his aggressive baserunning helped him score a run. But it wasn't enough as the Braves beat the Sox, 6 to 3. And so as August ended, the Red Sox (12-23) were in last place, 12 1/2 games behind, with 25 games left to play.

Sox starting pitchers (6.91 ERA) had only averaged 3.9 innings per start. No team in the history of baseball has had less than four innings per start. The worst starting pitchers for the Red Sox thus far, were Colton Brewer (5.61), Zach Godley (7.71), Ryan Weber (6.00) and Kyle Hart (13.00).

The Atlanta Braves swept a three game series at Fenway to start September, but Verdugo continued to shine. He went 7-for-13 in the series with four doubles. He led the team in hits (41), runs (26) and doubles (13) and his .315 BA was also the best on the team.

Toronto next came to Fenway and the Sox were able to split a doubleheader with them on September 4th. The second game saw the Sox be the visiting team for the first time in Fenway Park's history and each game was shortened to just seven innings, one of MLB's rules for this unconventional season. It was a make-up game for the game that was not played in Buffalo that protested social injustice when the Jays would have been the home team.

The Sox won the second game, 3-2, on the back of rookie Yairo Munoz's three hits. He also had three hits in the first game, which the Sox lost 8-7. His six hits for the day, included two doubles and a home run. Munoz was signed on March 24th, after the Cardinals had released him.

On September 5th, the Sox staged a comeback 9 to 8 walk-off victory in the fourth game of the series with Toronto. Down 8-7, Xander Bogaerts who was just 3 for his last 24, tied up the game in the bottom of the ninth with a homer into the Monster Seats. The Sox walked off with a win a few minutes later when the Jays literally threw the game away. Christian Vazquez reached first on a force play and stole second, moving to third when the Jays catcher, Caleb Joseph, threw the ball into centerfield. He then scored the winning run on a grounder to Travis Shaw at third, whose throw was wide of the plate.

After his great debut, Bobby Dalbec struck out 11 times in 19 plate acancelledearances. But after reviewing videos of his swing in college, he went 3 for 8 with two homers in the final two games of the Toronto series.

RAFAEL DEVERS

Moving on to Philadelphia, the Sox split a doubleheader with the Phillies. In the first game, mental errors in the field and pitchers walking 13 Philly batters, lost them the game, 6 to 5. The bright spots came from two homers off the bat of Rafael Devers, along with homers by Verdugo and Dalbec. Dalbec slugged another homer in the second game that broke a 2 to 2 tie, and led to a 5-2 victory.

Then the Sox moved down to Tampa to play the Rays and Dalbec hit his fifth home run in five straight games. He became the first rookie in MLB history (since 1900) with a five game home run streak in his first ten games.  His six homers in the the first ten games of his major league career, surpassed the Sox rookie record of five in his first nine, set by Sam Horn in 1987. Dalbec was the fifth player in MLB history to accomplish the feat of 6 in 10.

In addition The red hot Rafael Devers homered also, had 3 RBIs and drove in the winning run, leading led the Sox to a 4-3 win.

The Sox split the four game series with the first place Rays. J.D. Martinez had been hitless in his last 22 at bats, before striking a game-winning single in the final game, which the Sox won, 6-3. Bobby Dalbec had a six game RBI streak snacancelleded in the final game also.

Red Sox prospect Tanner Houck made his major league debut against the Marlins in Miami on September 15th. He was tremendous, pitching five shutout innings, giving up just two hits and striking out seven.

Meanwhile, J.D. Martinez (.208 BA) remained frustrated at his season-long batting slump. With just one hit in his last 31 plate acancelledearances, in the second game in Miami, he had three hits including a home run. The team's best hitter Alex Verdugo (.318 BA) had three hits, but the Sox lost 8 to 4.

Nathan Eovaldi(3-2) was the only Red Sox starting pitcher with a winning record this season when he beat the Marlins, 5-3 in the series finale on September 17th. He struck out seven batters, allowing two hits over five innings. The Sox took 2 of the 3 games for only the second time this season, they won a series on the road.

Rafael Devers boosted his hitting streak to ten games, with a mammoth three-run homer. He was 19 for 41, with five home runs and 14 RBIs during his streak. Verdugo had another three-hit game and has hit .386 in his last 70 at-bats, scoring 17 times.

At Fenway, the Yankees remained undefeated against the Red Sox, beating them 6-5 in extra innings on September 18th. Martin Perez pitched an outstanding game, allowing three hits and leaving with a 4-0 lead after six innings. But again, the bullpen gave the runs back. Darwinzon Hernandez, Marcus Walden and Ryan Brasier came in and gave up three runs to put the Yanks back in it, then Matt Barnes blew the save in the ninth inning and let the Yankees tie it up. Ryan Weber took the loss, giving up the game winner in the 12th. Christian Vazquez and Christian Arroyo each had three hits, but Sox hitters were 3 for 22 with runners in scoring position.

The Yankees had won 12 straight games vs the Sox until they faced Tanner Houck on September 20th and lost 10 to 2. In probably the best all-around played games of the season for the Sox, Houck, in his second start, took a no-hitter into the 6th inning. The Yanks finally got to him and scored a run on just one hit. He was the sixth starting pitcher, and only Red Sox pitcher in history, who threw as many as five innings and allowed two hits or fewer in his first two MLB starts. Offensively, Michael Chavis crushed two monster homers onto Lansdowne Street as did Bobby Dalbec. And Jackie Bradley Jr knocked out four hits.

Nick Pivetta was acquired from the Phillies in the Workman-Hembree trade. On September 22nd, he made his first start for the Sox (the 16th different starting pitcher this season). Against the Orioles, he was outstanding, giving up one run on four hits over five innings, with eight strikeouts in the 8-3 Sox win.

Nathan Eovaldi (4-2, 3.72 ERA) fired pitch after pitch clocked at 100 mph and threw six shutout innings, striking out eight of the Orioles in the next game, winning 9 to 1.

After closing Fenway for the season by taking 2 of 3 from Baltimore, the Sox traveled to Atlanta to finish the year. They lost the first game in extra innings, 8-7, on September 25th. They had come back to tie the game in the ninth inning, 4-4, took a two run lead in the 10th and held a one run lead in the top of the 11th. The Braves, however, walked it off in the bottom of the inning on Freddie Freeman's two-run homer. Jackie Bradley Jr slugged a 447 ft homer earlier.

Tanner Houck (3-0, 0.53 ERA) took the ball and continued to impress in his final start of the season, limiting the Braves to a run on three hits over six innings in the second game of the series. He struck out ten batters on route to an 8 to 2 Sox win. The home run he gave up in the fifth inning, broke his streak of 15 consecutive innings without giving up an earned run, to start his career. He had plenty of help when Bobby Dalbec homered, before Christian Vazquez blasted a grandslam in the eight-run second inning.

Jackie Bradley Jr gave the Sox all the help they needed in the final game of the season, with the Sox beating the Braves, 9 to 1. Free agent to be, JBJ, went 3 for 6 and made one of his signature leaping catches, crashing into the center field wall in the fourth inning. Nick Pivetta went five strong innings, allowing four hits and a run while striking out five.

Sox hitters (.265 BA) ended up leading the American League in batting and knocked out a league-leading 552 hits and 118 doubles. But their pitchers posted the second worst ERA (5.58) in the league. Sox pitching gave up 587 hits and 351 runs, the highest in the American League. As a result, the 2020 Red Sox finished in last place, with a 24-46 record, 13 games behind.