BOSTON — It was only three games, but it’s still noteworthy that the Red Sox, in losing their wildcard series to the New York Yankees last week, managed just one home run in 27 innings.
That one homer was a solo shot off the bat of Trevor Story. Meanwhile, during the regular season, the Red Sox ranked just 15th — right in the middle — in homers with 186.
Story led the team in homers with 25. Wilyer Abreu (22) was the only other player with more than 20.
“It would be fair to look at some of those other teams (still competing in the playoffs) and say that they hit the ball out of the ballpark a little more than we do,” said chief baseball officer Craig Breslow at Monday’s season-ending media availability. “Scoring runs….this is kind of a zero-sum game, right? And it doesn’t really matter how you score. But in the postseason, a lot of runs come via the home run because the pitching is so dominant. So I think that’s a consideration.”
Indeed, during the year, the Red Sox were, by most measurements, a Top 10 offense. They were fourth in batting average, seventh overall in runs scored and ninth in both OBP and OPS while leading all of baseball in doubles.
But as Breslow noted, it becomes far harder to put together rallies in the playoffs. A pitcher may make one mistake on a home run, but he’s far less likely to make three or four in a row as opponents try to string together a bunch of hits.
Next season, the Red Sox might have a healthy Triston Casas back in their everyday lineup, supplying additional power. But it’s also hard to know what to expect from Casas, who missed the final five months of last season with a major knee injury. Even if Casas is fully cleared for the start of spring training, he’s been an inconsistent run producer in the big leagues.
Similarly, the Sox could reasonably expect more power from Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer in the second seasons. Then again, they risk losing the left side of the infield (a combined 43 homers) with both Alex Bregman and Story able to opt-out of their current deals.
There’s some intriguing power options on the free agent market this winter, led by first baseman Pete Alonso and DH Kyle Schwarber.
But Schwarber is widely expected to remain in Philadelphia and it’s not clear whether the Red Sox would be willing to commit to a long-term deal for Alonso, a poor defender at first base who is expecting a long-term deal to take him well into his mid-to-late 30s.
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