These Red Sox hitters put on a show during the 2021 season
The Boston Red Sox exceeded expectations in 2021 by claiming a Wild Card spot and making a valiant run to the ALCS. A powerful offense that ranked fifth in the majors in runs scored helped fuel this drastic turnaround following a dismal 2020 season that saw the club sink to the bottom of their division.
One of the top scoring teams in the league naturally had plenty of impressive performances at the plate throughout the season. Narrowing down a list of the best of those performances is a tall task and the results may vary depending on your criteria.
Run production matters. Racking up three or four hits can do wonders for a player’s batting average but it feels a bit empty if they aren’t driving anyone in or coming around to score. Every player on my list had a multi-homer game.
I didn’t use the same player twice. A case can be made for certain star players producing several of the best performances this year but what’s the fun in that? I’m highlighting five different players for their best game this season.
Many of these performances came in blowouts but in cases where a player had multiple games with similar production, the closer game where that production mattered more served as a tie-breaker.
I’m also sticking with the regular season. The Red Sox made history when they smashed three grand slams in the ALCS against the Houston Astros. All three of those players conceivably could have made the list considering their production and the magnitude of the moment but then the majority of this slideshow would focus on one series. We’ll leave that for another time.
With that in mind, here are my five favorite regular season performances by a Red Sox hitter this year.