Your bag is empty.
The Boston Red Sox were supposed to be a playoff team again in 2026. So far, they look like anything but that. The 2-7 start is tied for the worst in franchise history, and it’s already five games back of the New York Yankees.
The only solace is that it’s early on, but nothing looks good. The vaunted offense has been abysmal, and new acquisitions have yet to contribute positively to the team. There are still 153 games to go, but right now, it’s awful in Beantown.
Red Sox struggle to “unacceptable” start
Boos and chants of “sell the team” rained down from Boston Red Sox faithful on Sunday. The San Diego Padres beat the Sox 8-6 to drop them to 2-7, the worst start through nine games in the team’s illustrious history. There have been a myriad of issues.
The Sox made the playoffs last year and pushed the New York Yankees to the brink in the AL Wild Card Series. After a pretty good offseason, despite losing Alex Bregman, Boston seemed poised to be as good if not better than before. So far, they’re worse.
“This is unacceptable. It’s unacceptable for the fans,” young phenom Roman Anthony told reporters. “It’s unacceptable to the standard that we set for ourselves.” Anthony was Team USA’s best player in the World Baseball Classic, but he’s hitting just .235 for the year.
Nothing from newcomers
The Red Sox made a few high-profile additions over the offseason. Most of the offensive additions have provided almost nothing. At the plate, Willson Contreras, Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa have combined to go just 8-for-70.
That is an astonishingly low .114 batting average, and it comes with a staggering .171 slugging percentage and 20 strikeouts. Those four new hitters have combined to hit just one home run through nine games.
The pitching additions haven’t been much better. After losing Bregman, the Sox pivoted and signed Ranger Suarez to a five-year, $130 million contract, and he’s been pretty awful. During the loss on Sunday, he couldn’t last five innings.
Ranger Suarez struggles
Ranger Suarez was given a four-run lead early on, and he gave most of it back before being pulled. Suarez let the Padres score three in the fourth and then allowed another earned run as part of a three-run fifth inning that he didn’t survive.
His final line was 4.0 innings, six hits, four earned runs, two walks, and two strikeouts. His season numbers are abysmal. He’s 0-2 with an 8.64 ERA in his first two starts with his new club. This from the player with a career ERA of 3.43. He’s already been worth -0.3 bWAR.
“He’ll be the first one to say there’s no excuse,” manager Alex Cora said after the game. “He was making good pitches. … They made adjustments, started swinging at the first pitch, got their hits and then that happened.”
Need to be better
Roman Anthony, despite being just 21 years old, has become the leader of this franchise. This happened because he’s that good and because the Sox traded Rafael Devers and let Alex Bregman walk in free agency after he opted out of his three-year deal.
The young slugger has accepted the responsibility, and he put it plainly what Boston must do to turn things around. “I think just as a team, we need to be better,” Anthony said. “I need to be better. Everyone in this room understands that they need to be better. And it’s as simple as that. A lot of season left.”
At 2-7, things are bad, but it’s far from over. “The record is the record,” Alex Cora said. “We’ve just got so show up . We have another tough team coming in, one of the best teams in baseball. We’ve got to play better.”
Up next, though, is the 7-2 Milwaukee Brewers, so things aren’t going to get any easier.
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