The story of the Red Sox' City Connect uniforms
The Red Sox are waking up on May 19 with way more unexpected problems than they anticipated.
First and foremost, most didn't project that the team some viewed as the most talented in the American League would hit this point two games under .500 and five games in back of the first-place Yankees. But after their 10-4 loss to the Braves Sunday, here they are.
Any home field advantage has seemingly dissipated with the warmer weather, with the Red Sox now having dropped three of their last four series at Fenway Park.
Two hitters who were supposed to be part of the meat-and-potatoes part of the Red Sox' lineup - Trevor Story and Triston Casas - have been virtual non-factors. Obviously, Casas is out of the season with his knee injury, while Story's OPS now sits at .618 after a 22-game stretch that has seen 11 hits (1 extra-base hit) in 89 at-bats with 33 strikeouts.
The fall-out? The Red Sox' cleanup spot has a combined OPS of .518, which is still way behind the next-worst group, the Rangers, who sit at .572. Not good.
And then there is the starting rotation, a group that was supposed to be an embarrassment of riches, even without the injured Kutter Crawford.
There has been Garrett Crochet and then ...
Tanner Houck is out. Walker Buehler has been out, scheduled for a return this week. Lucas Giolito has offered two good, two bad in his return. Richard Fitts is also out. Hunter Dobbins has been helpful, but is coming off his worst outing as a big leaguer. And, finally, we have Brayan Bello.
The unpredictable Bello took another turn in the wrong direction against the Braves, allowing seven runs on 10 hits over 4 1/3 innings. Making the outing even more maddening that the Red Sox had actually taken the lead on Rafael Devers' third-inning grand slam, only to watch Bello give it right back up with one in the fourth and three more in the fifth.
"They need to step up," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, whose starters' combined ERA stands at 4.45, 24th in the majors. "That's the bottom line. We have to step up as a rotation. It's not only Garrett, it's everybody. We have to do a better job as a group."
Going back to April 23, the Red Sox' starting pitchers' ERA clocks in at 5.28, which is 25th among all big league rotations over that span. The only teams that are worse? The Rockies, the Marlins, the Orioles, the Blue Jays and the Nationals. You get the picture.
Within that same span - and that same statistical grouping - there is another eye-opening reality: The American League is only getting better while the Red Sox are seemingly getting worse.
During this 26-day span, the top four starting pitching staffs are all in the American League, with the Royals (2.59), Yankees (2.65), Rangers (2.78) and Twins (2.80) topping all teams in Major League Baseball.
The moral of the story is that what once was an American League landscape that many perceived as just flawed enough for less-than-inspiring teams to hang around is becoming a lot better.
The National League might have the best top tier teams, but when it comes to clubs the Red Sox would absolutely feel fairly good about facing in the A.L., the list probably has been whittled down to three - the Orioles, White Sox and Angels. Everyone else, despite some recent losing streaks and issues, will offer uncomfortable existences.
Heading into Sunday, the record between the American League and National League: 104-104.
The A.L. ... unfortunately for the Red Sox, not that bad.
What is also unfortunate for the Red Sox is that his run of better-than-average clubs isn't being paused. Now come the Mets. That's Juan Soto. That's Pete Alonso. That's the best pitching staff in baseball.
If there was ever a time for the Red Sox to show that they do, actually, belong in the Big Boy conversation, this is the time. To date, however, they have been on the outside looking in when it comes to that conversation.