Mookie Betts talks podcasting, pickleball
The season-busting, 12-inning loss to the Twins Friday night should have been demoralizing enough for the Red Sox. It did, after all, put an end to the last month of tying ourselves into pretzels trying to decipher a postseason path for this team that is now two games under .500.
Suddenly, the attention paid to this make-or-break series against the Twins thanks to Wild Card dreams is now turned to three games in Toronto next week, a series that will determine last-place in the American League East.
But what should have added another layer to the agony was looking across the diamond at the team that supplied the dagger. The Twins, after all, are living the life that the Red Sox had every chance of experiencing.
Minnesota is a tremendously flawed team who might find themselves in the World Series thanks the absence of any sort of alpha in the American League.
Thank could have been the Red Sox. It's not.
Where the Red Sox have landed is in a place that, even in this opportunistic landscape of the A.L., is not worthy of participation in October. For starters, the news that their offensive go-to guy, Rafael Devers, is likely done for the year due to his shoulder issues should cement that notion.
If you were living life with a red-hot Devers, maybe things would be different. But you aren't. It's a trend that has to be rectified, with the third baseman now owning a combined August OPS in the past four seasons of just .695, with September not much better (.779). The rest of the months leading into the late-season paint a different picture: April, .858; May, .936; June, .905; July, 1.059.
Credit has to go to Devers for attempting to power through various late-season ailments. But, as was evident this season, his importance to this lineup and team is too big for such downturns to be taking place.
In the past four seasons, when Devers has driven in two or more runs the Red Sox are 75-23. Two or more hits? The record is 117-60. You get the picture.
"It’s tough," said Trevor Story of Devers likely not returning this season. "I'm super proud of him. I'm proud to call him my teammate. He's the face of the franchise and comes out here and [plays], he's banged up, been banged up for a long time. I think everyone knows that. But he's out here playing, man. He wants to win. He set the tone for everyone to follow. Even if you're banged up, you can still play and kind of set the tone that way. So I'm super proud of him. And happy to be his teammate."
More what-ifs won't be hard to find.
What if the Red Sox hitters came close to not setting a franchise record for strikeouts, which they already comfortably own with eight games still to be played? After striking out 20 times Friday night - the most of any Sox team since June 5, 2001 - this year's club's total stands at 1,508, 122 more than the franchise's previous record-holder (2021).
What if the Red Sox' bullpen had found a way to fix itself at some point coming out of the All-Star break? The numbers have been well-documented, with the relievers allowing a major-league most 179 runs, which is 25 more than the second-worst team ... the White Sox.
Ironically, the current grouping has offered the most optimism in a while, as was evident in Friday's loss. Luis Guerrero, Lucas Sims, Josh Winckowski, Kenley Jansen and Greg Weissert all threw scoreless innings. And that isn't including the continued emergence of Justin Slaten, who has continued to offer hope for late-inning reliability in 2025.
This, however, was not the picture painted up until two weeks ago.
Just another what-if? There were more. The prolonged absence of Trevor Story and Triston Casas. The last-season downturns of rookies Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela. And perhaps being able to lean on the likes of starter Richard Fitts a month earlier. (Fitts became the first Red Sox and second pitcher in MLB history to begin his career with three starts of at least five innings while allowing no earned runs.)
So be it.
As currently constituted, with injuries and under-performance far too prevalent, the idea that the Red Sox would be able to hang even with this flawed group of contenders suddenly seems far-fetched. But, what we witnessed before July 19? That's a different story. A different team. And a different conversation.
What might have been.