Despite thinking that the early season struggles was just shaking the rust off from this offseason, the Red Sox haven’t seemed to get any better as a team. Sure, the pitching has massively improved, with highlights from homegrown talents in Payton Tolle and Connelly Early. In fact, in the month of May, the Red Sox pitching staff has had an ERA of 2.73, holding batters to a .217 OBA, and struck out 124 batters.
That’s extremely impressive, seeing that as of May 18th, they’ve only had one scheduled day off this month (May 9th against Tampa Bay was postponed). They’re also doing this without one of the best pitchers in baseball in Garrett Crochet, who went down at the end of April with left shoulder problems.
So the pitching surely hasn’t been the problem. Not consistently at least. And the defense isn’t either. The Red Sox have the highest DRS in the league at +40. The highlights there are right fielder Wilyer Abreu (11) and third baseman Caleb Durbin (seven). Both of them rank in the top 10 of DRS around the league. So that puts the main focus on the offense.
The Offense’s Struggles Continue Post-Cora
Even after firing former manager Alex Cora as well as most of his staff, the Red Sox continue to struggle. As mentioned. The pitching and defense has been phenomenal. However, in the month of May, they’re 7-8. In 15 games, they’ve scored 44 runs. In the month of April (26 games), they had 110. Now it’s a bigger sample size in April, but there’s serious doubts they’ll catch up to that pace. In fact, Pat Brown of WEEI put out a stat saying if they scored at a league average rate, they’d be one of the best in baseball.
If the Sox were a league average offense (4.5 runs per game) their record would be….
32-14
— Pat Brown (@PatBrown954) May 17, 2026
And that’s legit. Of the 46 games played, opponents have scored 5+ in only 14 of those games. In addition, Eight of their 27 losses have come with the following criteria:
- Opponent score four runs or less
- Red Sox lose by two or fewer runs
This slump that they’ve been in all season offensively gets worse the more that numbers pop up. Tyler Miliken shared a bunch of numbers (more team centric and not completely offensive) but the lack of run scoring and getting on base has been tough.
Just a depressing slate of numbers on the Red Sox season. pic.twitter.com/LoP13WRcHW
— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) May 17, 2026
The Main Issue
The issue with home runs is an overtalked about point. It’s surely an issue, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to get fixed anytime. Instead there’s a couple bigger issues. The obvious one is batting with runners in scoring position, then there’s who gets chosen to step up to the plate first.
Looking at the splits for the Red Sox this season, leadoff batters have a slash line of .197/.288/.298. The Red Sox have used three players at the leadoff spot this season. Jarren Duran hit .168 with a .218 OBP. For one of the fastest guys in the league, one would hope at the very least that he could get on base. But he’s struggling from that spot this year. In addition, when put lower in the batting order (as low as sixth), he’s batting .308.
Roman Anthony isn’t a massive improvement batting wise at .214. But he’s good at drawing walks and getting on base, with a OBP of .347. He’s sitting on the IL right now, but when he returns, having him bat leadoff should be a consideration, especially with Duran’s better hitting late in the order. For what it’s worth, Ceddanne Rafaela has also been tested at the leadoff spot, but with nine at bats there, it’s nothing notable to see.
Runners In Scoring Position
As of May 18th, the Red Sox have had a total of 1,535 at bats over the course of the season. Of those, 361 were with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox have gotten 85 hits from those situations, or a batting average of .227, second worst in baseball behind the Los Angeles Angels. Rafaela and Willson Contreras are the only two on the team (qualified) with a batting average over .250 in those situations, with Rafaela nearly batting .300.
Anthony and newcomer Mickey Gasper also hit well. Everyone else ranges from .243 (Abreu) to .095 (Carlos Narvaez). In the entirety of MLB, 66 qualified hitters are hitting .300 or better. The lack of run support for the pitchers is why the Red Sox are struggling. It’s mostly a collective issue, not one single batter.
The Last Word
The Red Sox offense has been a frustrating disappointment. Because this team is young, but with the caliber of players missed out on this offseason, as well as the expectations of these guys given performances in previous seasons, the offense should be much better than it currently is. Either things turn around soon, or another big change is about to come.
Main Image Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images
