If you're wondering why the Boston Red Sox are floundering at 27-30 and have lost 10 of their last 15 games, the high-level stats may not help you.
The Red Sox rank sixth in all of Major League Baseball in runs scored (270), their bullpen owns a 3.75 ERA, good for 13th-best in baseball, and they boast a plus-13 run differential.
So, what gives? Why does a team that entered the year with playoff aspirations have a losing record through 57 games?
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SIGN UP HERE We'll start with the obvious injury disclaimer: Losing first baseman Triston Casas to a season-ending knee injury in early May was a devastating blow, and Alex Bregman was Boston's best hitter before going on the injured list with a right quad injury on May 23. The Red Sox also have two starting pitchers on the IL in Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford.
But those injuries are still no excuse for some of the underlying issues that have plagued Alex Cora's club this season. From an inability to deliver with runners in scoring position to a continued stretch of poor fielding to a black hole at the cleanup spot, here are eight troubling stat categories where the Red Sox rank among the worst teams in baseball:
The Red Sox have left more runners on base (7.3 per game) than any team in baseball and have a .238 batting average with runners in scoring position. They've struck out 509 times -- the third-most in MLB -- with 227 of those Ks coming with runners on base (most in MLB).
The No. 4 spot in the lineup -- usually reserved for an elite hitter -- has been a black hole for Boston, with a combined batting average of .196. Cora inserted Kristian Campbell in the cleanup spot Tuesday night in Milwaukee, and the struggling infielder went 1 for 4 with two strikeouts to drop his batting average to .113 in May.
The Red Sox also have been abysmal in close, low-scoring games. Their record in one-run contests (6-14) is the third-worst in baseball, and they've suffered more walk-off losses than any other team, the latest coming Tuesday night after Christian Yelich's walk-off grand slam.
Boston's offense has been remarkably feast-or-famine, with more of the latter of late: The Sox have scored 10 runs or more in seven games this season but have scored three runs or fewer in 20 games, including the last four in a row. Outside of those seven outbursts of 10 runs or more, Boston is averaging just 3.5 runs scored per game.
To top it all off, the Red Sox also have been awful in the field with 43 errors in 57 games, the most in the American League.
Add all those stats up, and it's a lot less surprising that this team is underachieving through more than one third of its season. To borrow a phrase from Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, the Red Sox have failed to win "the margins" this season, and unless they reverse some of these troubling trends, it may cost them a playoff spot.
