‘We do everything extremely well’
Red Sox winning at near-.700 clip by blending players, talent and great timing
BALTIMORE – David Price leaned back in his chair and pondered how it was possible his Red Sox team managed to win seven of every 10 games they played this season, from the cool of March to the doorstep of August.
Then, the veteran left-handed pitcher paused.
“Are we 70-30?” he asked. “Wow.” He was close. They were 71-31 after winning the opener of a three-game series at Camden Yards on Monday. Yet in the haze of a major league season, even greatness gets clouded by the grind. And these Red Sox are in rarefied air. They’re the first Red Sox club to post 71 wins through 102 games and just the fourth MLB team in 20 years to hit that plateau, joining the 2017 Dodgers, 2001 Mariners and 1998 Yankees.
While it’s tempting to dream on an epic Yankees-Red Sox pennant race, it seems almost as likely Boston runs and hides from its Northeast rival. The Red Sox were six games up on the Yankees and five ahead of the Astros for the best record in baseball. In this season of extreme haves and dreadful have-nots, they’re on the verge of lapping the field.
Boston will almost assuredly add to its core at the trade deadline, certainly a veteran reliever, perhaps an additional starting pitcher.
It will be hard to improve upon the foundation already built.
“Sometimes we play spectacular defense,” says Dave Dombrowski, Red Sox president of baseball operations. “We have good starting pitching. At times, spectacular. We have a good bullpen. At times, spectacular. We’re really good in a lot of areas. We’re deep.”
Indeed, the Red Sox check all the statistical boxes: 545 runs and a .794 onbase plus slugging (both tops in the AL), second in earned run average (3.52) and strikeouts (994).
Yet how does a team set such a breakneck pace? Well, it’s equal parts roster composition, skill and serendipity.
Horses matter
During a season in which the hallowed institution of starting pitching is under siege — Google “bullpenning,” “The Opener” or “third time through the order” if you’re not up to speed — the Red Sox are showing the worth of assembling and paying for front-line starting pitching.
It doesn’t hurt to have an MLB-high $223 million opening-day payroll, reflecting the $217 million acquisition of Price and the $82 million retention of Rick Porcello.
Chris Sale, who might run away with the AL Cy Young Award, was acquired from the White Sox thanks to a $60 million expenditure on Cuban amateur Yoan Moncada and deft drafting that enabled them to flip assets for the dominant lefty in December 2016.
The result: A rotation fourth in the AL in innings pitched, third in strikeouts and second in strikeouts per nine innings, despite injuries to back-end starters Eduardo Rodriguez, Drew Pomeranz and Steven Wright. Four games into the second half, Boston’s starters have yet to give up an earned run.
On the flip side, Boston’s relievers rank 10th in the AL in innings.
Offense is the best defense
The Red Sox might reap the benefits of a relatively stress-free existence.
Of the five likely AL playoff teams — Seattle being the only one not a virtual lock — the Red Sox have played the fewest one-run games, 23, and are 15-8 in such contests. The Indians (13-12) have played 25, the Yankees 26 (16-10) and the Mariners a staggering 38 (26-12).
At the other end, the Red Sox have also played the most blowouts (games decided by at least five runs). They’re
23-9 in those, compared to the Indians
(18-13), Astros (24-5), Yankees (20-5) and Mariners (11-14).
Closer Craig Kimbrel has appeared in
43 games, an aggressive but reasonable pace that would equal his 67 appearances last year, while Mariners closer Edwin Diaz has already appeared in 49.
Dream sequencing
Boston has outscored opponents by 169 runs, trailing only Houston (+188) in run differential. Yet winning at a 70% clip takes a certain aligning of the stars, such as the timing of your blowouts.
When you win almost all the time, there’s a temptation to ride your bullpen horses too often, and Boston has leaned hard on Kimbrel and setup men Matt Barnes, Joe Kelly and Heath Hembree.
But the baseball gods have cooperated: Kimbrel has pitched three days in a row once and only twice has he worked four out of five days, two scenarios that mandate a day off.
Sandwiched around Kimbrel’s first four-in-five-days sequence in late May, the Red Sox worked in a loss to the Rays in which they trailed 5-0 after two in- nings, suffered a 7-1 loss to the Braves and then won consecutive games 8-3.
In other words, the perfect game conditions to rest an overworked group of high-leverage relievers.
Kimbrel’s second four-in-five sequence led into the All-Star break, and he did not pitch in the game, giving him five days off. The deft handling has paid off: Kimbrel has converted 23 consecutive save chances and has 32 overall.
So even when the Red Sox lose they win.
Star sluggers
In case you missed last week’s All-Star Game, everyone hits home runs now. The Red Sox are no different: They’ve slugged 136, trailing only the Yankees and Indians in the AL.
Yet even the most committed launch-angle lunatics can suffer power outages; teamwide slumps are almost inevitable. These Red Sox, however, are perhaps the most slump-proof club in baseball.
Besides their slugging ability (second only to the Yankees), they lead the AL in stolen-base percentage, a very analytics-friendly 83%, and have swiped 76 bags, one behind AL leader Cleveland. They rank 11th in strikeouts, so when the home runs hit a dry spell, the Red Sox can still score by putting the ball in play and pressuring the defense with speed.
They also have Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez, arguably the game’s greatest offensive players this side of Mike Trout.
Betts is batting .350, giving him a 22point lead on Jose Altuve for his first batting title, and has paired that with 23 homers, 18 steals and 6.6 WAR.
Martinez, a launch-angle hipster who in 2014 remade his swing, also has a ridiculous skill set at the plate: a .321/
.386/.629 slash line, 29 home runs and a
130-RBI pace.
Says Dombrowski, who signed Martinez to a $110 million deal in February: “They’re star players who take the pressure off other people to make things happen.”
Says Price: “I don’t know what we don’t do well. Even on really good teams, there’s going to be one aspect to improve. And teams can always improve. But we do everything extremely well.”
In particular, winning.