ESPN's Senior Writer and MLB analyst Buster Olney joined Brady Farkas on the 'Refuse To Lose' podcast, sharing some thoughts on the Red Sox offense.
It has not been the start to the season anyone envisioned for the Boston Red Sox, who find themselves at 9-15 and in last place in the American League East entering play on Thursday. After the June 2025 trade that sent Rafael Devers to San Francisco, and Alex Bregman's departure in free agency, the Boston offense was at the center of conversation in the team's 2026 outlook, and thus far, they have not done much to quell those concerns.
National perception of the Boston offense
ESPN Senior Writer and MLB analyst Buster Olney joined Brady Farkas on our sister site's Seattle Mariners Refuse To Lose podcast, sharing some thoughts on the Red Sox offensive struggles, as part of a bigger conversation on struggling contenders. "The concerns about the lack of power in their lineup, that is real," he told Farkas. Olney also cited a conversation he had with one evaluator who said: "There's no one in that lineup that you are circling in fear if you are on the other side of the field."
It's a far cry from the offseason discourse surrounding the Red Sox offense, with Olney's ESPN colleague Jesse Rogers saying, "Boston gets a full year of Roman Anthony. It's a sneaky good lineup behind him. The sum will be better than the parts for the Red Sox," while picking Boston to win the AL East in 2026.
Red Sox offense by the numbers
Not much has gone right for the Red Sox offense. In the first six games of their seven-game homestand, which started with Friday night's 1-0 win over the Tigers, they have struggled to generate any consistent offense.
The Boston offense has mustered just 13 runs in six games, thanks to a league worst .188 batting average, a number that decreases to .156, with runners in scoring position.
Overall, the numbers don't get much better for the Red Sox, who rank in the bottom ten in runs, batting average, on-base percentage, strikeout rate, OPS, and wRC+. Where things get especially discouraging for Boston is in the power department, where they rank dead-last in home runs, slugging percentage, and isolated power. Per MassLive's Chris Cotillo, since April 4, the Red Sox have played 17 games where only three Boston players have hit home runs.
The pivot away from power is a major deviation from the successful Red Sox teams of past years. Per WEEI and WBZ's Joe Weil, in each of Boston's four World Series-winning seasons, the team has ranked in the top 10 in runs, home runs, OPS, and wRC+, with the lone exception being the 2007 team that hit just 166 home runs, the 18th most in baseball that year.
The lack of pop in the lineup leaves the Boston offense to string together multiple hits in an inning to score runs, which is not all that common in today's game, making their margin for error so much smaller on any given night.
Things will not get much easier for the Red Sox on Thursday as they look to right the ship at the plate. They'll face off with the Yankees' young stud Cam Schlittler while trying to salvage the series finale against New York. Top prospect Payton Tolle will make his 2026 debut opposite Schlittler. First pitch from Fenway Park set for 6:10 p.m. ET.
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