After a long and busy offseason during which they dominated the trade market, the Boston Red Sox entered the 2026 slate with high expectations and plenty to prove after making the playoffs the season before. Not even two series into the campaign, Boston looks defeated.
The Red Sox are a team built on run prevention but have done no such thing against the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros. Boston has a 4.78 ERA as a team over 43.1 innings. Its new pitchers haven't performed as well as fans hoped — Ranger Suárez and Johan Oviedo both allowed four runs in their Red Sox debuts and Sonny Gray allowed three (subscription required).
The Red Sox's bats have also looked horrendous in the early going. They've scored just 13 runs over five games and struck out a staggering 54 times, which is an average of over 10 punchouts per game. Caleb Durbin doesn't have a hit yet. Even Roman Anthony looks lost after striking out four times against Hunter Brown and the Astros.
To many Red Sox fans, this level of early-season dejection feels familiar. Boston started the 2025 season at 1-4 and showed many of the same issues the current Red Sox are showing, even with Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman on the roster.
Tanner Houck and Walker Buehler each let up four runs in their first starts. Richard Fitts and Sean Newcomb were in the rotation to begin the season and surrendered three and four runs, respectively.
Red Sox on an eerily similar track to the 2025 team that also started 1-4 with many of the same issues
The Red Sox scored 11 runs over their first four losses and struck out 36 times. The defense also made three errors in their first four losses — the "new and improved" 2026 defense has also made three errors.
Last season, when the rotation circled back to Garrett Crochet, the Red Sox woke up. They began making better swing decisions, better contact and things started going their way. Boston went on a five-game winning streak to make up for its rusty start to the year, and it can only hope for more of the same this season.
The Red Sox came to spring training this year with vibes seemingly at an all-time high. They played well, which continued into the World Baseball Classic, and they looked like they were having fun. Somehow, just weeks later, Boston looks utterly lost and heartless.
The Red Sox have shown that they can shake off a rough start with a little confidence boost. With their ace on the mound on April 1, the Sox could turn things around to erase another slow start, a yearly occurrence in recent seasons.
When Boston has made contact (which has, admittedly, not happened often enough), it's hit the ball hard, but been unlucky with placement. Once the Red Sox shake off the rust and truly see some run prevention from Crochet, they could be back to their high-energy spring training selves — and they should hope so, because they've been a brutal watch so far.