3 Biggest Things That Can Hold the Red Sox Back in 2024
By Thomas Erbe
2. Defensive Miscues
The pitching this year for the Red Sox has been incredible, especially under the circumstances. Many people wrote this Sox staff off after trading Sale and losing Giolito, but as things stand right now, they have the best earned run average in baseball.
Behind their impeccable pitching is a defense that is struggling immensely. Their thirteen errors on the year are tied for the second-most in the majors. That's an average of one error per game, which is less than ideal. It'll be hard to win baseball games if you have to account for an error a game.
There have already been multiple instances where the defense has cost the Red Sox a win. The Baltimore Orioles just swept the Red Sox and accumulated seven unearned runs in just three games, thanks to five fielding errors.
The defensive lack of effort is continuously canceling the work this pitching staff is doing to keep the Red Sox in contention. If the plan is to get back into the race for the division or a wild card, which is still obtainable, the defense needs to improve. Or, the offense will need to score ten or twelve runs a game to keep up.