Baseball is a numbers recreation. It has at all times been a numbers recreation.
Number of video games performed, homers hit, runs pushed in, strikeouts, walks. Wins and losses. Averages and percentages. Single-season and profession statistics. Record highs and private worsts.
That’s not even moving into the superior metrics of the fashionable period.
One stat alone received’t inform the complete story. In 2023, the Red Sox completed 78-84, in final place for the third time in 4 seasons. But their file belies how nice they have been at instances, on each particular person and collective ranges.
To really perceive this group, why they flourished, faltered, and the way they in the end failed, one should study the numbers behind the numbers. So, one final time earlier than the calendar web page mercifully flips to a brand new yr and clear slate, listed here are the 2023 Red Sox by the numbers:
Record and information
Here’s an odd little bit of trivia: this was the ninth season during which the Red Sox received precisely 78 video games, however solely the sixth time in addition they completed with precisely 84 losses. The 1905, 1911, and 1935 groups every compiled 78 wins, however solely 74 or 75 losses, making them three successful seasons.
Also hidden inside their file have been some unlucky firsts. Among them, an early September contest which turned the primary 9-inning loss in franchise historical past during which the Red Sox collected no less than 21 hits.
For the third yr working, the Red Sox led all Major League groups in doubles (339). Excluding the shortened 2020 season, that streak goes again to 2018. They have been second within the recreation in batting common on balls in play (BABIP), and ranked sixth in batting common (.258) and ninth in slugging share (.424). They have been fourth in hits (1,437), eleventh in runs (772) and RBI (734), however a scarcity of energy left them 18th in homers (182). They have been a decent thirteenth in strikeouts (1,372), however didn’t draw almost sufficient walks (twenty fourth, 486), and left 1,117 males on base, Twelfth-most within the Majors.
What actually did them in, although, was beginning pitching or lack thereof. With an all-too-familiar dearth of sturdiness within the rotation, 17 totally different pitchers cobbled collectively begins for Boston in 2023. Quality begins – no less than six innings, not more than three earned runs – have been few and much between. There have been 47 of them this yr, an enchancment of precisely one over final yr’s mark. In truth, the final 4 seasons have yielded the membership’s lowest quality-start counts of the Live Ball Era, which started in 1920.
However, Kutter Crawford made franchise historical past as the primary pitcher to file as many as 4 video games of no less than six innings pitched and one hit allowed in a single season. He and National League Cy Young winner Blake Snell led the Majors with 4 such outings apiece.
Speaking of Cy Young awards, relievers aren’t sometimes within the dialog – the final bullpen arm to take dwelling the distinguished pitching accolade was Eric Gagne with the Dodgers in ‘03 – however Chris Martin obtained a fifth-place vote this yr, and completed Twelfth total for AL Cy Young. He posted a 1.05 ERA over 55 appearances for Boston this season, and persistently carried the later inning workload for nearly the complete season.
Justin Turner spent his age-38 season doing issues the David Ortiz method. He joined Ortiz and Bob Johnson as the one Red Sox gamers to drive in 96 or extra runs in a single season at 38 or older.
And what number of rookie-eligible gamers have drawn 70 or extra walks in a single season? Triston Casas simply turned the sixth in franchise historical past. He did so in 132 video games, second solely to Billy Goodman’s 1948 season, when he walked 74 instances in 127 contests. Casas additionally turned the fifth Red Sox rookie beneath 24 years previous to homer no less than 24 instances in a single season, and the primary since Nomar Garciaparra in 1997.
Debuts
Thanks to a replenished farm system, when the Red Sox wanted reinforcements, they have been capable of name up some high-caliber expertise. Eight gamers made their main league debuts within the following order: Masataka Yoshida, Enmanuel Valdez, Chris Murphy, Joe Jacques, David Hamilton, Brandon Walter, Wilyer Abreu, and Ceddanne Rafaela.
The farm system, in the meantime, improved to No. 5 in Baseball America’s organizational rankings, and No. 2 in FanGraphs’.
Memorable Milestones
In May, Kenley Jansen turned the seventh pitcher in MLB historical past to transform 400 saves. Two weeks later, former Red Sox nearer Craig Kimbrel joined him within the membership. Oddly sufficient, each picked up No. 400 in Atlanta, towards a group they each performed for beforehand.
Devers reached and promptly blew previous 150 profession dwelling runs, 200 profession doubles, and 500 profession RBI. With his four-hundredth profession extra-base hit in mid-September, he turned the primary participant in franchise historical past to succeed in the mark earlier than turning 27. (Ted Williams would’ve finished it, if not for his three years of army service in World War II.)
Adam Duvall handed the 400 profession runs and 500 profession RBI marks, and Justin Turner reached 300 doubles. Before getting traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kiké Hernández picked up profession dwelling run No. 100.
Payroll
Last, however definitely not least, the underside line.
Last December, Chaim Bloom gave Masataka Yoshida a five-year contract for $90 million, the most important ever for a Japanese place participant. Then, in January, Devers signed a franchise-record 10-year contract extension price $313.5 million, far surpassing the earlier file: the seven-year, $217M they gave David Price in 2015.
However, total spending headed in the other way. After ending in final place with a payroll over the Competitive Balance Threshold in 2022, the Red Sox reset their penalties this yr. Despite vocal pleas from their gamers to herald reinforcements earlier than the midsummer commerce deadline, the brass stood pat. According to Spotrac, Boston completed the season with slightly below $222.5 million in luxurious tax spending, leaving over $10 million in house. That put them Twelfth within the league in spending.
While the Red Sox got here beneath hearth for scrimping, it’s price stating that the three high spenders this yr, the Mets ($374.6M), Yankees ($296.3M), and Padres ($291.2M), all missed the postseason, too.
Source: www.bostonherald.com