We’ve all heard the phrase: “Defense wins games.”
We have since learned from the 2023 Red Sox it also loses you games.
Boston’s defense has been their Achilles heel all season long and is a big reason the team now sits 6.5 games back of the third and final Wild Card spot.
If the eye test isn’t enough to prove how poorly the Sox have played defensively, the metrics don’t lie.
It’s a long season. You can’t control every aspect of the game, so to be a successful team, you need to find consistency in the things you can control. That’s something the Red Sox have struggled with this season regarding their defense.
It's an issue Alex Cora addressed when appearing on Gresh and Fauria as part of the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon presented by Arbella Insurance on Wednesday. Listen to the full interview below.
"You're going to go through slumps offensively, you're going to go through slumps pitching-wise,” the manager said. “There's a few things that have to be consistent, and in those, we've been very inconsistent. What is it? The defense."
Cora has not been shy when it comes to criticism of his team’s defensive play this season. It’s an issue the manager says he knew was going to make or break their season early on.
“If you give the opposition more than 27 outs, you will pay,” said Cora. “We’ve been so inconsistent in that aspect. I realized that early on. This is what’s going to take us to October, or this is what’s going to stop us from getting there.”
Unfortunately, it has been the latter for the Red Sox.
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