In a season of 108 wins and a World Series trophy, there isn’t much that went wrong. But, with 54 losses on the season, a few things didn’t go the team’s way.
The Red Sox won nearly every series they played. But, three teams had their numbers. The Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, and Oakland Athletics had winning records against the Sox. On a positive note, the Sox won 10 of the 19 games they played against the Yankees.
Another sour note came in the first game of the season as the Rays defeated the Sox by a score of 4-6. After a six-inning gem by Chris Sale to open the season, Carson Smith blew the save and took the loss.
The Sox had only a few losing streaks all season and none of them were longer than three games. The first came in April at the hands of the Athletics and the Blue Jays. The next didn’t occur until August, when the Sox lost two to the Indians and one to the Rays. Then, in September, the Sox lost one game to the Baltimore Orioles, before losing two to the Yankees.
When the Sox lost, they lost badly. Of their 54 losses, 17 were considered blowouts where they lost by five or more runs. Unfortunately, the worst loss of the season was to the Yankees by a score of 1-11 in New York. David Price had a terrible day -giving up five home runs, while Luis Severino didn’t have any earned runs.
But, the ugliest part of the season happened on May 30 when the team released Hanley Ramirez. The former Rookie of the Year had become an albatross with a contract of $22.7 million. After 44 games, his slash was .254/.313/.395 with six home runs and 29 RBI. He was replaced by Mitch Moreland who earned his first All-Star Game invitation. It was as if the Sox knew Ramirez was finished as they signed Moreland in December 2017. Then, Steve Pearce helped out at first after he arrived in late June.