As have most Red Sox fans, I've wondered where their offense has been this year. How could you not after seeing them score a total of 3 runs in their most recent 3 game series against the Baltimore Orioles.
Although each season has a different combination of players, injuries and levels of competition, it is still likely that this year's numbers will get closer to where they have been in the recent past. At the very least they should at least be able to close the gap.
In order to make some quick comparisons between this year's statistics and the past 5 seasons, I've made some tables which show both the current numbers and rankings for this season and the 2009-2013 seasons. All rankings are based on #1 being the highest number or percent and #30 being the lowest. Obviously, that means that sometimes a #1 ranking would be the best for some types of statistics while #30 could be the best for other types. I did not pay attention to whether or not the team was tied with another team for their position.
The first table (top of page) looks at the number and types of hits the Red Sox have had as a team this season. While the team has never hit a lot of triples, they are typically in the top ten for doubles, home runs, and hits in general. Seeing that they are currently ranked 22nd in hits and 25th in home runs, I'd expect the team to at the very least move into the middle of the pack. While being ranked 9th in doubles is pretty acceptable, it's pretty off considering we've been ranked #1 every year except 2009.
The next table looks at various batting percentages. If you've felt that the team has really struggled, here's your proof. In a future post I will look at these numbers on a month to month basis for both the team as a whole and as individuals.
The next table points out two major things. One is that the team is good at getting to first without every making contact with the ball. The other is the fact that the crazy amount of strikeouts is similar to where we were last year.
The point of this post is really all about the Red Sox and their inability to score runs this season. When you look below you can see that it really is as bad as it seems. While they are usually one of the highest scoring teams in the MLB, they are one of the worst this season.
This next group of statistics is not easy to analyze. As you can see we typically ground into a lot of double plays and leave a lot of guys on base. Of course this season we all know that the guys being left on base is killing our offense because we aren't scoring any runs. In previous year's it wasn't that bad because we were scoring runs. We were just getting so many guys on base that it was inevitable that we would leave some of them there. Yes, I had to double check the 2012 numbers to make sure I didn't flip-flop the rankings.
The last topic of the day is stealing. Yes, we all knew that we would have significantly less steals without have Jacoby Ellsbury on the team. While this was expected, being ranked second from the bottom for stolen base percentage is ridiculous.
Keep checking back for future posts about the Red Sox.
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