A nine-game lead. Remember that? September 2nd, 2011. Everyone was absolutely riding easy. Tito looked like he was going to be able to ride with his club to a postseason slot. Even with all the team’s issues throughout the season, it was all within the Red Sox’s hands.
And they blew it.
The starting pitching became entirely ineffective, with Jon Lester and John Lackey suffering down the stretch. Lackey’s ERA in the month of September was 9.13. Lester? He allowed four or more runs in three straight
starts. Josh Beckett? Nursing a bum ankle and knee. The pitching was so strapped for Major League talent that Erik Bedard, Kyle Weiland, even Andrew Miller had to step into the rotation. It wasn’t clear that Lackey was even healthy enough to start the final game of the season. How about the bullpen? Daniel Bard gave up 14 runs in 11 games down the stretch.
The offense dropped from an OPS+ of 142 in July to 120 for September/October. Sure, that’s still better than league average, but it’s a drop-off regardless. Marco Scutaro, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Carl Crawford looked clueless at the dish. Adrian Gonzalez’s power was sapped by injuries.
A team bereft of leadership and character—not from the manager who shouldn’t have been let go, but from a group of players who would become infamous for chicken and beer and for slacking off on days off. Other teams summoning devil magic to stay red hot and put pressure on the Red Sox just to survive. In the end, it lead to a collapse of epic proportions.
Does this sound familiar?
A 2025 Red Sox team that was within 2.5 games of the DIVISION lead not too long ago is now faltering down the stretch. While Garrett Crochet is still acting like an ace, a home run problem has crept into just about every single one of his outings in the last month and a half. Brayan Bello is getting knocked around because he can’t get through the top of the lineup either the first or second time out. Lucas Giolito is getting hard hit even though he’s getting saved by some top notch defense by Ceddanne Rafaela. It’s led to the front office being forced to call up prospects and young pitchers like Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and Kyle Harrison, whether they’re ready to shine or not.
The offense? OPS+ of 96 in August only back up to 106 in September. The power strokes of Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu are nowhere to be seen. Anthony is lost to injury and Abreu—who was reportedly due back for the A’s series—may not even be back until the end of the Rays roadie now. Triston Casas has been long gone. Nathaniel Lowe started hot and has cooled off. Ceddanne Rafaela is reminding us of those April’s Jackie Bradley Jr. comparisons. He was INTENTIONALLY pitch hit for by Nick Sogard. Did it lead to a win? Sure. Still not a great look. Jarren Duran is hot and cold again. Alex Bregman very much doesn’t look 100%—three homers combined in August and September, and a monthly batting average of just .194 so far.
As far as we know there isn’t a culture problem to rant about—or a manager that’s going to be hastily fired—but the effort seems lifeless almost all the way around. Mistakes that seemed to be worked out—namely in defense and base running—have even slowly crept their way back into this squad.
What was once a comfortable lead with hopes of even hosting a Wild Card series is gone. The Guardians and Ranges are still on the outside looking in. But this team looks lost and doesn’t have too many oars left in their boat to keep paddling upstream. Can the 2025 Red Sox avoid a terrible fate?
