We are living through one of the dreariest Boston Red Sox seasons in many years. A team that was unevenly constructed from the beginning has also suffered extended injuries to its two brightest stars — Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony — and plenty of other healthy players have performed well below expectations.
Boston's front office is making attempts to fix the mess that it created. World Series-winning manager Alex Cora was fired at the end of April, along with five other coaches, in an attempted housecleaning procedure. We also know that chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is attacking the trade market earlier in the season than usual in search of an impact bat that he should've secured over the winter but failed to.
The Chad Tracy Era has been so-so — the Red Sox were 13-16 under Tracy entering Saturday — but the past month hasn't done nearly enough to make up for what's been an ugly campaign.
And yet, through all of the pain, Red Sox fans can still find a silver lining in Boston's pitching and defense (if they're interested in looking for one), particularly the latter element, which has been among the best if not the best in all of MLB. Boston's outfield defense, specifically, is something to marvel at.
Red Sox's outfield defense is the most promising characteristic of this entire franchise
Defensive Runs Saved Leaders - Left Fielder pic.twitter.com/LnbTeuZTSD
— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) May 29, 2026
Boston has two Gold Glovers manning right field and center field in Wilyer Abreu and the magical Ceddanne Rafaela. The defensive talents of these two have been known for a while. The defensive emergence of Roman Anthony and the improvement of Jarren Duran as a left-fielder, however, are variables new to Boston that have surfaced in 2026, and it's been a welcome sight.
Anthony, despite his inconsistent arm that definitely needs further work, and despite having only appeared in 30 games this season, ranks third among all MLB left-fielders in Defensive Runs Saved. Also on the list at No. 8 is Duran.
Craig Breslow's run prevention vision has been undone by a terrible offense (that he's responsible for)
That whole run prevention philosophy that Breslow built the Red Sox around this winter? It has totally worked out ... on defense. Perhaps even more so than Breslow could have hoped for, Boston has pitched and defended quite well this season (without Crochet for most of it, remember), and if the Red Sox had something like a league-average offense, they'd have one of the best records in MLB. It's sad, really.
In a sense, it's a bittersweet experience everytime Rafaela rises up into the sky to make an impossible catch, as you're reminded that this defensive wizardry will probably be all for naught in a 2-1 loss or something of the like.
Breslow's roster construction has been so head-scratching and frustrating because he effectively put together a brilliant starting rotation and defense, but totally bombed on the offense side of things. It's as if Breslow built a gorgeous mansion in the middle of Maine but neglected to account for gas and electricity, leaving the home freezing and uninhabitable for much of the year.
We'll try to enjoy this phenomenal defense with all of our might, but doing so just keeps bringing us back to the inevitable truth that offense wins games, especially at Fenway Park.
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