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The 2025 Red Sox showcased plenty of promise — and a lot of flaws — in roller-coaster year
"Obviously we should feel the way we feel right now — because we had bigger goals."
COMMENTARY
It can be a dangerous game to encapsulate 162-plus bouts of baseball into a single nine-inning contest.
Nor is it always a fruitful exercise to make any sweeping conclusions about the state of a franchise off of what transpires in a winner-take-all showdown in October.
Not when the fate of a season can sometimes come down to a bloop, blast, or a bobble in the outfield.
For Alex Cora’s club on Thursday night, it was a freight train rolling out of Route 1 in Walpole product Cam Schlittler that sealed their fate.
“We needed to be perfect tonight, because he was perfect,” Cora said.
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Schlittler’s eight shutout innings was the final nail in the coffin for the Red Sox’s 2025 season — a season that featured a roller-coaster ride of injuries, underperformance, new arrivals, and additional twists and turns.
As painful as the optics are of the Red Sox walking off the diamond while being serenaded by Frank Sinatra, it’s easy to fall into the comforting habit of harping on the silver linings as the dust starts to settle.
Yes, the 2025 Red Sox punched their ticket to the postseason for the first time in four years.
Despite numerous injury setbacks to players like Triston Casas, Alex Bregman, Lucas Giolito — coupled with a shocking midseason trade of a disgruntled Rafael Devers — Boston still managed to scrap their way into the playoffs.
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Ideally, it’s the start of a repeated treks into October, especially with the arrival of stars like Garrett Crochet and foundational talents like Roman Anthony.
But the promise of 2026 and beyond shouldn’t absolve Boston from this fumbled opportunity against New York — much like the numerous pop-up floaters that sank in front of Sox outfielders in The Bronx.
Sure, Schlittler’s gem was the final blow that sealed Boston’s fate in a season that should have carried further into October.
But a promising — albeit very flawed — Red Sox team can only look inward on Thursday as several season-long issues all manifested themselves over two fateful games at Yankee Stadium.
Even looking beyond the critical absences of players like Anthony and Giolito on the postseason roster, the Red Sox were done in during October by repeated lapses that first sprouted up in April — with no fixes ultimately prescribed.
In a series with little margin for error, Boston’s porous defense once again sunk Cora’s club.
Despite committing a league-worst 116 errors during the regular season, Cora balked on Thursday when asked if Boston’s defense was feared to be a fatal flaw come the postseason.
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“No. No, especially with the outfield. No,” Boston’s manager noted.
Of course, those fears were realized in New York after failed catches by both Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela in back-to-back games helped spark a pair of rallies from New York.
Add in a few seeing-eye singles where Boston’s infield defense failed to bail out rookie starter Connelly Early in Game 3, and the Red Sox’ infatuation with making life harder on themselves in the field resulted in an early postseason exit.
There was no solace to be found in the batter’s box, where Boston only managed to plate three runs over the final two games of this series.
Despite ranking seventh in the majors in runs scored during regular-season action, Boston’s offensive approach was marred by several shortcomings — many of which ran the risk of being exposed in the postseason.
They struck out far too much, including a league-worst 394 with runners in scoring position.
In a high-stakes postseason climate where a single two-run blast can sometimes be the difference maker, Boston didn’t have the power in place to flip the momentum with one swing of the bat.
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Boston finished the year with 186 home runs, good for just 15th in the league, as their best power hitter spent most of the summer golfing offerings into McCovey Cove.
And as unrelenting as Boston’s batting order could be on some nights when several lineup cogs were clicking, the Red Sox were also over-encumbered with far too batters who ran too hot-and-cold at critical moments.
Look no further than during this series, where Boston batted .198 (19-for-96) with just three doubles, one homer, six runs, and a whopping 30 strikeouts.
As some feared, several expected conduits of Boston’s offense ran cold at the worst possible time.
Jarren Duran: 1-for-11, four strikeouts
Ceddanne Rafaela: 0-for-10, four strikeouts
Wilyer Abreu: 0-for-5, three strikeouts
Carlos Narvaez: 0-for-8, four strikeouts
The return of Anthony next April will help Boston’s fortunes. But the Red Sox still are in desperate need of another power bat in the heart of their lineup, as well as a more consistent output from several other segments of the batting order.
It’s not a fool’s errand to harp on the potential of this club — especially if the steps taken this summer lead to greater returns in the coming years.
But as the Red Sox now pack their bags and exit what was a wide-open field in the American League this fall, Boston only has itself to blame as it begins what should be a busy winter.
“Obviously we should feel the way we feel right now — because we had bigger goals,” Cora said.
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