The Boston Red Sox are officially postseason participants this season, having clinched their playoff spot with a win over the Detroit Tigers on September 26. They'll face their archrival New York Yankees in the Wild Card round.
There's plenty of reasons for optimism for those that want to believe in the odds of a deep playoff run; the Red Sox are above .500 at home (47-33), on the road (41-40), and against teams with a winning record (42-41) this season. They also took the season series from New York, 9-4.
However, there are some flaws which could prove fatal under the bright lights of October. The lineup is without Roman Anthony and has failed to replicate his success atop the lineup; the rotation has been over-reliant on Garrett Crochet all year; and outside of Greg Weissert and Garrett Whitlock, which right-handed reliever can Alex Cora trust?
Oh, and they lead the league in errors by a significant margin. According to former closer Jonathan Papelbon, it's that truth that could doom the Red Sox in the playoffs.
"You're looking at a team with A LOT of questions, in my opinion."@TheRealJPap58 says the Red Sox can't lead the league in errors or rely solely on Garrett Crochet if they want to beat good teams. pic.twitter.com/ar5RLaLSbV
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) September 23, 2025
Red Sox's penchant for errors could spell doom for postseason hopes
While fielding miscues don't necessarily mean a team can't make a deep postseason run, they have a way of rearing their ugly heads at the worst possible moments. Remember Game 5 of the World Series last year? Poor fundamentals were the Yankees' undoing in the Fall Classic, and they haven't lived it down (nor should they).
With 115 errors heading into the final game of the regular season, the Red Sox have a sizable lead on all other teams. It's also not promising that the other bottom-three teams in errors committed — the Colorado Rockies and the Chicago White Sox — have the two worst record in the league.
In fact, the gap between the Red Sox and the next playoff-bound team (the Cleveland Guardians, who have committed 97 errors) is the same as the gap between the Chicago Cubs (60 errors, third-fewest) and the New York Mets (79 errors, 12th-fewest).
Of course, it doesn't help the fact that Trevor Story leads the American League in that category with 19 errors, nor is it promising that a whopping 10 players have committed at least five errors for the Red Sox this season.
Two of those players (Kristian Campbell and Abraham Toro) won't be on the postseason roster, but regulars like Story, Alex Bregman, Ceddanne Rafaela, Carlos Narváez, and Jarren Duran have all significantly contributed to the issue.
This is something the team has to address in every meeting and practice before October baseball begins. This Red Sox team is too talented not to make some noise this postseason. Hopefully, they don't end up beating themselves.