3 Biggest Things That Can Hold the Red Sox Back in 2024

The Boston Red Sox’s ownership group set expectations at the beginning of the offseason last year, saying they’d do anything to win. Fast-forward to the beginning of the season, and the expectations were to be bottom-feeders again in the American League East division.

The Red Sox tried to add but were unsuccessful with the heavy hitters. The biggest problem lies just to the south of them, as the New York Yankees loaded up (again), and the Baltimore Orioles have an unprecedented amount of in-house talent coming through their pipeline. It would have taken more than just a Shohei Ohtani signing to keep up with them,

But through a tough West Coast trip to begin their 2024 season, the Red Sox really held their own. They still have a winning record at 7-6 but already find themselves in fourth place and three games out of the division lead.

It’s way too early to speculate, but it also isn’t going to get any easier for the Red Sox. Frankly, their record should be better than what it is now. However, these three key components have held them down and are keeping them from obtaining greatness.

1. Injuries

It started when the Red Sox made their biggest splash in free agency. They signed right-handed starting pitcher Lucas Giolito to a two-year deal worth $38.5 million guaranteed, with a vested option for a third year. But disaster struck when he needed surgery to repair a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament, effectively ending his season that never began.

Part of why the Red Sox signed Giolito is because of a trade that sent starter Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves. In return, the Sox received a top young talent in the organization, infielder Vaughn Grissom. But Grissom aggravated his groin during spring training and has started the year on the injured list. He has not played yet but should be back sometime soon.

The most significant blow to the year came when the Red Sox lost Trevor Story. Story has yet to play 100 games since signing his 6-year, $140 million deal with the Red Sox prior to the 2022 season. He had a remarkable spring, and many believed 2024 would be the turning point. But it all came to an end when he landed on his shoulder the second weekend of the year, prompting surgery and an end to his season.

2. Defensive Miscues

The pitching this year for the Red Sox has been incredible, especially under the circumstances. Many people wrote this Sox staff off after trading Sale and losing Giolito, but as things stand right now, they have the best earned run average in baseball.

Behind their impeccable pitching is a defense that is struggling immensely. Their thirteen errors on the year are tied for the second-most in the majors. That’s an average of one error per game, which is less than ideal. It’ll be hard to win baseball games if you have to account for an error a game.

There have already been multiple instances where the defense has cost the Red Sox a win. The Baltimore Orioles just swept the Red Sox and accumulated seven unearned runs in just three games, thanks to five fielding errors.

The defensive lack of effort is continuously canceling the work this pitching staff is doing to keep the Red Sox in contention. If the plan is to get back into the race for the division or a wild card, which is still obtainable, the defense needs to improve. Or, the offense will need to score ten or twelve runs a game to keep up.

3. Fenway Blues

The Red Sox organization has one of the richest histories in sports. Much of that stems from their home ballpark, Fenway Park, which has been their home for over a century. Fenway remains one of the premiere parks for baseball fans to visit.

Boston is also home to some of the most passionate sports fans in the world. They’ve packed Fenway Park year after year to see their Red Sox play and hopefully win. Four World Series championships have been brought home to Fenway since 2004, the most of any team in the league in that span. But the Red Sox have not been able to find Fenway as a place to win as of late.

The Red Sox have had a losing record at home in three of the last five seasons. This includes last year when they finished with a 39-42 record at Fenway.

2024 has started in the wrong direction, too. They just surrendered a three-game sweep to the Baltimore Orioles to open the home schedule. They’ll now welcome the Los Angeles Angels in for three games and the Cleveland Guardians for four to follow that.

To get back to .500 at home, they’ll need to win five of these seven games. If they come out of this with any less than that, we may wonder if there’s some curse going on not letting the Red Sox win at home.

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This article was originally published on chowderandchampions.com as 3 Biggest Things That Can Hold the Red Sox Back in 2024.