The Red Sox’s season ended in the same flat, miserable way it began: with the Yankees stomping them into the ground.
Boston was blasted 9-0 and 9-2 in two brutal losses that made the summer surge look exactly like what it may have been all along - a stretch of good fortune hiding a team that was never built to go deep. The Yankees didn’t just win the series. They exposed how thin the Red Sox really were.
Wednesday night offered one tiny flicker. Boston snapped a 26 2/3-inning scoreless drought with a home run that barely cleared the fence. But even that moment got swallowed up almost immediately by a six-run bottom of the sixth, a stretch that turned the night into a wreck.
The uncomfortable truth is hard to dodge: this wasn’t a playoff roster. The Red Sox only got to late September because the American League was weak and because they rode a fluky run that got a boost from players who came up from Triple-A.
That’s not the profile of a real contender. It’s the profile of a team that caught a break.
The Mickey Gasper example says plenty. At one point, fans were actually bummed about losing the 40th man on the 40-man roster coming into spring training.
That’s not how October teams are usually built. The clubs that survive in the postseason have real star hitters setting the tone.
Willson Contreras might have been that kind of bat if he had two healthy hands. Boston, though, didn’t have anyone who could match what Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, or even Luis García Jr. brought.
There are always excuses available. Maybe the Red Sox got gypped by a playoff setup that rewards weaker teams from weaker divisions.
Maybe a healthier Roman Anthony would have changed things. But the result stayed the same, and the way they went out made the case for them: this team didn’t really belong here.
That leaves an ugly question hanging over the season now that it’s over. Was any of it actually fun?
There were a few moments worth enjoying, sure. But when the dust settled, the Red Sox delivered one of the most frustrating playoff exits any fan base could be asked to absorb.
And when you zoom out over the last two years, it starts to feel like Boston hasn’t been in the playoffs at all.
So as the offseason begins, the real fear is simple: have the Red Sox just become the 2022-2024 version of themselves with a slight upgrade? Not stuck in ordinary mediocrity, but stuck in the kind that gets you to the bracket and sends you right back home. First-round exits, then the couch, then another winter.
And if Red Sox fans could ask for one thing right now, it would be this: John Henry and Craig Breslow should feel this loss as hard as they do.
In Other News...
Bruins First Loss Exposed An Early Problem They Can't Keep Feeding
After opening the season with a spirited overtime win in Winnipeg, the Bruins ran into a much less forgiving night in their home opener against Minnesota. Boston had the kind of early lead it wanted, but the game quickly shifted once the second period got messy, with the Wild taking advantage of the Bruins discipline issues and turning a competitive start into a far tougher ask.
The larger concern for Boston is that the problems were not limited to the scoreboard. Shot selection and offensive execution were off, and in a back-to-back stretch like this, those details can decide whether a team grinds out points or hands them away. The Bruins have already shown they can win on energy and resilience, but their first loss of the season also served as a reminder that they cannot keep feeding opponents easy chances. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Hot Start Faces Its First Real Test In Net
The Bruins quick start now gets an early wrinkle in goal, with Michael DiPietro set to make his first start for Boston against the Wild. Marco Sturm made the call after DiPietro turned heads with his work in the minors and in preseason, giving the organization a chance to see how the depth chart holds up when the schedule starts to squeeze a little tighter.
Jeremy Swayman will get the night off after starting Fridays overtime win, and the rest of the lineup is expected to stay intact. For a team trying to keep momentum rolling, this is the kind of game that can say a lot about the Bruins goaltending picture without changing much else around it. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins First Loss Exposed An Early Problem They Couldnt Overcome
The Bruins first loss of the season arrived on the second night of a back-to-back, and it came with a familiar warning sign attached. Boston held up well at even strength against Minnesota, but special teams tilted the game the wrong way, turning a competitive night into a 3-1 defeat.
Michael DiPietro made his first start for Boston and gave the team a chance with 26 saves, but the Bruins could not find a way to cash in when the game tilted toward special teams play. Penalties became the difference, and for a team trying to establish its early-season identity, the margin for error quickly disappeared. [Read more 🡒]