BOSTON — It shouldn’t be time to panic. Not this early in the Red Sox’s season. You’d be jumping to conclusions if you did.
Struggles over a 162-game schedule aren’t much to worry about. The weather, especially in the Northeast, is still cold. Hitters are still getting their legs under them. Timing is off. Around the league, offense tends to lag early.
But a 2-7 start is at least worth paying attention to. History isn’t on their side. Since 1903, only 14 MLB teams have made the playoffs after starting 2-7, most recently the Astros in 2024. A wild-card team in 2025, Boston certainly has playoff expectations in 2026. The good news is there are six AL playoff spots up for grabs, and, entering play on Monday, only three teams in the American League had records above .500.
Still, the Red Sox are the only team in baseball without three wins.
“The record is the record,” manager Alex Cora said after Sunday’s loss to the Padres.
The Sox have yet to win a series. They dropped two of three to the Reds to open the season, were swept in Houston, then lost two of three to the Padres over the weekend at Fenway Park.
By Sunday, the frustration had turned outward. Chants of “sell the team” aimed at owner John Henry grew louder after the Padres pushed the lead to two runs.
That reaction isn’t new around Jersey Street. It’s become part of the backdrop, with fans viewing Henry as someone who treats the team like part of a portfolio instead of investing in a team built to win.
But this team? The Red Sox front office swears it’s a winner.
The roster was built with the idea that arms could carry them. Pitching was supposed to be the Sox’s calling card. It’s what they leaned on once Alex Bregman signed with the Cubs and Ranger Suárez chose Boston in free agency. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has talked about building a sustainable, talented pitching group since he took over. This is the first year that vision felt real, especially with the additions of Suárez and Sonny Gray.
The very early returns are not promising.
Suárez lasted just 4 1/3 innings Sunday. He cruised through the first three, then a 32-pitch fourth inning led to three runs and ended any chance of a quality start. He’s now allowed seven earned runs in 8 1/3 innings across two outings.
Has his season been a surprise?
“Yes, to be honest with you,” Cora said. “Obviously it was different for him in spring training. He didn’t pitch that much in the WBC. He’ll be the first one to say that there’s no excuse. He was making good pitches.”
As a staff, the Red Sox rank 23rd with a 4.71 ERA. They have yielded the eighth-most runs in baseball (41). Not ideal.
Brayan Bello gave up five runs in his first start against Houston. Sonny Gray looked better Saturday, two runs over six innings, but his first outing wasn’t great: three runs in just four innings against the Reds. Garrett Crochet got tagged for five runs (four earned) over five innings in Houston.
You can say it’s early. April numbers can be misleading.
But there’s a real question underneath it. Who is the No. 2 behind Crochet? All last season, it was clear the Red Sox needed someone to anchor the rotation behind their ace. They didn’t get that.
Instead, they built a group of middle-of-the-rotation arms and are asking it to play up. Bello is who he is. There’s a good version and a bad one. You don’t know which one you’re getting. Gray is 36. Suárez is a pitch-to-contact arm pitching in a hitter’s park.
Slippin’ up in Boston
|
Record |
2-7 |
30th |
|
ERA |
4.71 |
23rd |
|
OPS |
.669 |
18th |
|
Runs scored |
30 |
27th |
On the other side, the offense might be showing something.
Hitting coach Pete Fatse hasn’t always had much to work with, but he’s found ways to maximize what’s there. Saturday felt like a step in that direction with one caveat. Trevor Story is once again off to a slow start.
Much like the start to his 2025 season, Story is batting just .119 with a staggering 17 strikeouts in just 42 at-bats so far. It’s discipline that has evaded Story so far. Heading into Monday, Story has swung at 22 pitches out of the zone. He whiffed at 14 of them.
“He’s doing a lot. He knows it,” Cora said. “He knows what he needs to do. I read a quote where he said that we have to slow it down. And, yeah, as a unit, we have to do it. It seems like we get the line moving and it’s a ground-ball double play or a 1-2-3 inning.”
To Cora’s point, the Red Sox are hitting just .215 with runners in scoring position, the fourth-worst mark in the majors, with 23 strikeouts in 65 at-bats. That can’t happen for a roster that isn’t built to slug.
The lack of right-handed power remains a glaring hole, which was easy to predict once Breslow failed to retain Alex Bregman. Pete Alonso, a natural fit for Fenway, met with the Red Sox during his free agency but signed with the Orioles.
So now it falls on Story and Willson Contreras. And in this lineup, Contreras is treated like a slugger despite never hitting more than 24 homers in a season. Story launched 25 homers last year.
Nine games in, there are way more questions than answers.
Much of the Sox’s power comes from the left side, including from Roman Anthony, who’s already at the center of the offense at 21. Anthony’s at-bats have been encouraging lately, but he’s a liability in left. Teams are testing his arm, and it’s costing the Sox.
“This is unacceptable,” Anthony said regarding his and his team’s play. “It’s unacceptable to the fans. It’s unacceptable to the standard that we set for ourselves. So it’s as simple as showing up and doing everything you possibly can.”
The Red Sox can still pull themselves out of this hole, of course. They have 153 games ahead of them.
“You have to stay the course,” said Cora. “You cannot overreact to this series. You have to play better.”
It’s not time to panic in Boston just yet, but that button isn’t far from reach.
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