Tori Sheffer

Red Sox 2024 Season Recap

By Tori Sheffer

I’m coming to you live from Cancun with the rest of the Red Sox team! All is sunny and well down here! Just kidding, I’m still writing up in the dismal mid-Atlantic. Well, the Postseason is well underway and the Boston Red Sox are not a part of it for the third straight year. While they went on some insanely good runs and some younger talent emerged into stardom, even with all the injuries the team sustained throughout the season; they still didn’t have the juice to play some October baseball. Gratefully, the boys did not repeat their placement in the AL East this year. For the first time in two years, the Red Sox did not finish in last place nor did they finish with their classic 78-84 record; however, they did manage to drive fans crazy as another wave of injuries crashed into the team as Rafael Devers and a myriad of pitchers sat on the shelf to end the season. 

As the 2024 Postseason continues to heat up, Sox fans are left with a bitter taste as they sit at home watching the Tigers and Guardians series saying, “That could’ve been us.” It truly could have. When the Red Sox were cooling off, the window of wins growing further apart, that’s when the Tigers (no pun intended) pounced. Much like the National League’s New York Mets, they have been riding the momentum of playing smart, competitive baseball, which the Red Sox just couldn’t manage to do toward the end. Sox fans across the greater New England area were hoping to watch the mighty Minnesota Twins fall and our team rise to success; however, it was Motown that capitalized on the North Star State’s demise alongside Kansas City and the already eliminated Baltimore Orioles.

If you ask me, or any other slightly delusional Red Sox fan, they might tell you one reason or another as to why the Sox are sitting at home this October, but all of them, in my opinion, are valid; especially my favorite reasoning: the injuries. From the beginning of the 2024 season, the writing was on the wall when, after a two-inning start, the Red Sox’s biggest offseason acquisition, RHP Lucas Giolito, quickly got sidelined needing elbow surgery. Then, a few weeks later, at the beginning of the season, the Trevor Story incident occurred, but somehow he managed to come back this season. It seemed as though that milestone was more personal rather than a last-minute hat trick that could put the Sox on top, but as a long-time Story fan, I was happy to see him back on the field playing the game he loves. Casas, Whitlock, Yoshida, Liam Hendricks, Raffy, and TO’s brief stints on the IL throughout the season, the list can go on for the infirmary that was the 2024 Red Sox lineup, but when the Sox were hot back in June, they were ranked as a Top 10 team in the MLB; when the season finished, they were ranked 17th out of all 30 MLB teams. Getting a resounding “C” average on just about any Full-Season report card you may find, the Red Sox did beat expectations, but as the dog days of summer rolled on, the young core of this Boston team could not keep up with the pace of 162 games. With a healthy Story, Casas, and Devers joining AL Rookie of the Year candidate Wilyer Abreu, and All-Star Game MVP, Jarren Duran our offense already seems stronger than we were the majority of this season, and with the Fantastic Four down in AAA knocking on the door of the majors as early as out of Spring Traning, our offense is promisingly malleable, but there is still room for improvement. Offensively, the only hope is that we find a right-handed power bat that can balance out our lineup and add some pop as well. Assuming Tyler O’Neill tests his free agent market, the only remaining true right-handed hitters in the Red Sox lineup are going to be Trevor Story Ceddanne Rafaela, and eventually Kristian Campbell. If we round up, assuming Campbell makes the Major League roster, that means one-third of the Red Sox starting lineup, will be able to actively compete against left-handed pitching; that’s not a sustainable ratio, especially with a manager who uses the analytical data of lefty/righty splits as extensively as Alex Cora.   

The defense is the issue. Roman Anthony is the number one prospect in the entire MLB pipeline, Kristian Campbell was named the Minor League Offensive Player of the Year, and Kyle Teel and Marcelo Mayer both seem ready to make their debut sometime in 2025 as well, covering the middle infield, centerfield, and behind the plate, but the Red Sox are desperate for an ace. While the ownership has not been interested in investing large sums of money, that is what needs to happen for the organization to survive the recent failures the organization has seen in finishing the last two seasons in a row, in addition to losing the momentum they had early on this year and falling out of contention for the playoffs. Alex Cora was interviewed a lot at the end of the season, and his sentiments regarding the 2024 season were exactly correct, “We blew it.” Now, this offseason, there will be a few starting pitchers out there who could truly make a difference for the Red Sox starting rotation. While this year’s emergence of Tanner Houck, Bello’s eight-year extension, and Kutter holding down each one of his 30 starts this season, the Sox have a solid middle/end of the rotation, with Giolito coming back, he could easily fit into a number two role, if all goes well with the rest of his rehab, but we’re missing that one star who can throw six, seven, eight innings every fifth day. Better yet, potentially signing one or two starting pitchers would be great so having Kutter in the bullpen (in addition to Whitlock) would begin to solve one of the other pitching issues, which is the bullpen. When the Sox were hot, and Justin Slaten and Chris Martin were injured, Craig Breslow did what recent GMs for the team didn’t which was trying to make the team better by acquiring two relievers at the trade deadline; however, neither Luis Garcia nor Lucas Sims seemed to fit both posting high ERA’s, Garcia’s being over ten. In acquiring some strong starting pitching this offseason, we can then start moving some of our weaker arms that currently make up the rotation to the bullpen to be long-term relievers who can give three innings after either a poor start or just someone to take over for two innings before Hendricks comes in, or whoever will be our closer next year.  

Another issue that constantly appeared after Story’s injury was our infield’s inability to field the ball cleanly. To get better, we will also need to see a shift there as well. While second base has been somewhat of a revolving door since the days of Dustin Pedroia, we should soon see this door finally close. There are two, maybe three viable options for second base if you’re the Red Sox; it all depends on the groove of the infield as a whole and who would be best to fill that hole essentially game in and game out. The Red Sox have Vaughn Grissom, an acquisition from the Chris Sale trade last offseason who also fell victim to the ever-growing injured list, Kristian Campbell, and even Ceddanne Rafaela all have a horse in this race. All are excellent defenders, all bat from the right side, and all could argue as to why they are the best fit for the job of being Trevor Story’s double-play partner. Depending how Spring Training shakes out, that will determine who will get the nod come opening day. Regardless of whoever is playing at second, the infield needs to know how to field a ground ball cleanly and how to throw to first base, which they just couldn’t seem to do every game in 2024. Their defense was so bad last season that for the majority of the latter half of the season, they led the Major League in errors, but thankfully, Miami managed to make one more, making the Sox second. Whether it’s another year of Camp Story or it’s becoming more defense-heavy when training before games start, something needs to change because there’s no way a team that gifts its opponents as many runs as the Red Sox did this year could make postseason berth let alone the World Series, they’re playing for the other team to win. 

It’s another season in the books, and as my first season covering the Sox comes to a close, I just want to say thank you to all of the readers out there who enjoy talking shop just as much as I do, and here’s to a successful 2025 season!