The Boston Red Sox face a MAJOR problem...

The Boston Red Sox face a major problem because as of late, the one thing they had to rely on all season long, even in the beginning when things were going rough and the offense couldn't get anything going, everyone could rely on the pitching. But as of late, over the last seven days, they're arguably one of, if not the worst pitching team in all of baseball, and it is absolutely the worst time to have to say that. I'm here to break down the recent performances, what is causing it, if there is any fix, and if it can happen soon enough to save these playoff chances for the Boston Red Sox. We'll break down all of that on this episode of Red Sox Digest, so let's not waste any time and get right to it, breaking down the news and why this is such a major problem for the Red Sox. We all know the backbone of this Red Sox team was not only elite defense all season long, but it was the pitching. Both the starters and the guys coming out of the bullpen, whether they were middle inning guys or high leverage guys, it didn't matter. They were all able to step up and show out every single time their name or number was called. But now, as of late, yes, the offense is up and down and it's been a bit stagnant. They've been shut out twice in back-to-back games, dating back to the final game against the Marlins just over a week ago in the opening game against the Yankees. Yeah, that sucks. But the offense, for the most part, has really picked it up. You scored, what, one and two in the final two games against the Yankees. But in this series against the Seattle Mariners, you scored nine in a winning effort, which again, you only won by one, nine to eight. Then in the following game, six to nine, you drop a game despite scoring six runs at home. That does not happen to this Red Sox team just a month ago, if not even less than that. And then today, the game just concluded just over an hour ago. As I'm recording this video, you lose eight to three. You've given up 50 runs in five games. That, I couldn't tell you. I think it was 2020 was the last time this happened to the Red Sox. It does not happen, especially this year with how good the pitching staff has been for this Red Sox team. So, what went wrong? Well, first things first, guys like Sonny Gray were pushed back just a few days ago. He missed his start yesterday. And the young man, Pa has got his first start, and the first start, not appearance, because he did make appearances for the White Sox back in March, which didn't go all that well. And well, yesterday was even worse as he gave up 10 hits, eight runs. It was really, really bad. And the Red Sox had no chance in that game. Yeah, they came back towards the end and made things a bit competitive and really gave the Mariners a scare, but just did not get the job done. And when you're down eight runs in the first three to four innings, you're really putting yourself in a position where you flat out cannot succeed. And overall, this Red Sox team is really, really good. I won't argue that they're not. I still have a lot of faith and a lot of optimism and hope surrounding this team and going into October, but they need to get hot. You need to get hot at the right time. And did they use up all of their momentum earlier when they won, what, 34 out of 40 games or 35 out of 40 games, whatever that crazy record was just over a month ago? I'm not going to say yes, because there is still a world where they can get hot and win the majority of their games to close out the month of September and still remain in a very good and competitive spot in the AL going into the wild card format in the beginning of October, which more than likely will be against the New York Yankees. But you cannot continue to drop games, especially against teams like the Seattle Mariners, who coming into this game or this series, I should say, against the Boston Red Sox were what, the bottom, what, if not the worst team, bottom two teams in team OPS in the entirety of the MLB, not just the AL, but the entirety of the league. They were in the bottom of the barrel when it came to team OPS and overall offensive production as a team collectively. And you go out there and you give up eight, nine and eight in three games at home in Fenway Park. It just can not happen. The offense hasn't been bad. You score nine runs, you win by a run, which is just crazy enough in itself. Then you score six runs in a losing effort. And then tonight you score three runs. Roman hits a solo shot, which is great to see he was able to hit the other direction. The young man looks like he hasn't missed a beat and he's going to be firing on all cylinders is going to be a huge piece to this Red Sox offense in team collectively as the rest of the season goes on. But if this pitching staff continues to get hammered the way they have been over the last seven days, these Red Sox don't have a chance. The offensive production has been good. It's honestly, it's been great to say the least, but the pitching has been subpar, especially, I won't even say especially to Red Sox standards as they have set the bar extremely high because of how good they've been. But if you look at the last seven days, they're sixth in walks, giving up and it gets worse. I have a bunch of stats here. Sixth in walks. They are second in average against that 306 only behind the Cincinnati Reds. And they are first in ERA. And this is not the best team in the sense of being first. This is the worst team over the last seven days with a 7-3-8 ERA. And you might be saying, Houston, they give up 16 runs and a position player was on the mound to close out that game against the Yankees. I don't care. I don't care. It happened. It did happen. And the position player only pitched what the final three outs, the final four outs, whatever it was, there was pitchers on the mound for the vast majority of that game, which resulted in a lot of the damage being done. And outside of that, you gave up 8-9-8 to the Seattle Mariners. Again, one of the worst, if not the worst offenses in the league. You gave up nine to the Yankees in the second game of that series. Overall, or excuse me, third game, because that was a four game series overall, just a not a good performance as of late for this Red Sox team. And it couldn't have come at a worse time. And you're wondering why is it happening? Well, the injury or the injured list, the IL does not help them in any way. Cutter Crawford, Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck, Johan Oviedo, Eduardo Rivera, Tyron Guerrero, Zach Kelly, Justin Slayton, all of these guys who are big names for the Red Sox, specifically pitching, are all on the IL currently. And obviously, a lot of these guys have been on the IL for some time now. But Guerrero, who has been absolute nails outside of his last appearance, which resulted in him going on the IL, is the newest addition. He had a blown save just two days ago against the Mariners. In the game, the Red Sox did end up winning eight to nine. He pitched one out. He got one out in the game. He gave up three hits, three runs. All of them were earned. And he walked a guy on 13 pitches. On 13 pitches thrown, seven of them were for strikes. And again, he gave up three hits, which resulted in three runs. And he walked a guy. This guy has been phenomenal all year long. But it feels like it's just flat out contagious. What is going on with this Red Sox pitching staff right now? If you look at the bullpen, this might be the starting rotation. Let it load. Please load, OBS. Please load. Oh, no. It's not going to load. Brian Bale has been a huge piece of this Red Sox bullpen. Why? Because ever since his ability to start games was taken away, he's become really, really good. But as of late, his last two starts, or excuse me, last two appearances, one against the New York Yankees and then one against the Seattle Mariners, he has returned to reality against the Yankees. He goes four and a third, five hits, four runs, all earned, one hit by pitch, one walk, two strikeouts on 94 pitches thrown with a 278 batting average against. That's not going to get it done. And that really skewed his ERA because if you look at the appearances before that in the month of August, he was pretty damn good. If it please load, please load OBS. God, it's just messing me up here. But if you go to the last performance, which was today, three innings, seven hits, four runs, all of them earned, he hit one batter, he walked two guys and didn't strike out any on 69 pitches with a 286 batting average against. And if you go to the numbers just before those two appearances I just mentioned, look at his ERA in the month of July, 0.66. And then look at his appearances in the month of August before the most recent one against the Yankees or the last one in the month of August against the Yankees. Three innings, perfect, no hits, no runs, no walks, two strikeouts, really good stuff. And that was, he did collect a save there. The following one against Chicago White Sox, two innings, three hits, one run, it was not earned, one walk, and one intention, which was intentional, and then one strikeout. Overall, really good stuff. The one run he gave up was not earned because of an error against the Atlanta Falcons, the Athletics. Four innings, three, excuse me, three hits, one run, it was earned, I believe that was on a solo shot, four strikeouts, no walks. Against Arizona, four and two-thirds, three hits, one run, it was earned, he hit one batter, he walked one batter, and he struck out three on 76 innings out of the bullpen and four and two-thirds. Overall, collecting really, really good outings and again, not in the starting spot. When he's not in the starting spot, we know what happens. He's usually really, really good. But as of late, things are not working. Just like Guerrero, it feels contagious. When it goes wrong, it goes wrong across the board. You are now four and a half games back of the New York Yankees who play the Anaheim Angels tonight for the third game of their series and Cam is on the mound. So, you can chalk that up as another win. They're going to move another game ahead and they're putting you guys further and further down in this bracket and making your life even harder and it just cannot happen. You cannot get cold at a moment like this and put yourself in such a more difficult situation than it needs to be, especially as the season comes to a close, as we are finally in September where baseball gets really, really good. But if you look at this schedule, you just closed the series against the Mariners, you lost the last two, and now you go into a series against the Orioles on the road, a four-game series. Then you go to Anaheim, you play three games, or excuse me, that's at home. You play three games in Fenway against the Angels. Then you have a three-game series, again, at home against the Kansas City Royals. But then you go to Texas, you go to Tampa, you then host the Guardians, who are on your ass in the wildcard standings, and you close out the month of September against a red-hot MVP candidate PCA-led Chicago Cubs. Like, you need to capitalize, you need to win the vast majority of these games, and you, if you don't have the pitching, I don't care how good the offense is, you're going to be in a very tough situation to continue to win games, especially against formidable opponents. Let me know down below, what are your thoughts and opinions on the current state of this Red Sox team? Are you worrying, or are you just playing it by the day? I will see you guys on next episode of Red Sox Digest. We do appreciate you guys watching, and I'll see you on the next one.