Why did the 2022 Red Sox fail?
One day, someone will write a book on the tumultuous Boston Red Sox of the mid-2010s to early 2020s.
They will cover the three consecutive division titles from 2016-18 and the franchise record 108 regular-season games won in the third year. The 2018 World Series will get a chapter, as will David Ortiz’s retirement season two years prior. Tackling the Mookie Betts trade will take at least one chapter, as will Alex Cora’s cheating scandal. It will have to include Dave Dombrowski’s rise, fall, and subsequent replacement by Chaim Bloom, who will also require in-depth assessing.
And though decidedly less dramatic than most of the aforementioned topics, the book wouldn’t be complete without unpacking the 2022 season. Namely, how a team with the fifth-highest luxury tax allocations and several superstars was, as Cora put it at the end of the season, the best worst team in baseball.
Many things went wrong in 2022. There are several reasons why this team finished their season in the regular, not post. Among them are poor roster construction, an onslaught of injuries, general underperforming, and some truly baffling decision-making. Before the offseason begins in earnest and the proverbial page finally turns, let’s revisit six specific moments that derailed this woeful campaign…