At 12-12, the Red Sox are the very picture of mediocrity.
They're not a .500 club because of their offense, which has performed better than expected, especially after the loss of Adam Duvall. The Sox went into Monday night third in runs scored in all of baseball.
It's certainly not because of their bullpen, which is vastly improved and entered Monday with a more-than-respectable 3.35 ERA, good for 10th in MLB. The Sox have not blown a save to date, and have yet to lose a game in which they lead after seven innings. All season, they've allowed just seven runs in the eighth and ninth innings.
And it's not because of their defense, which, while far from spectacular, has been at least adequate. The Sox may lack range at a few spots, but they're not making mistakes. Through 24 games, they've allowed just six unearned runs -- only four American League teams have allowed fewer.
No, the fault lies almost entirely with the starting pitching. Chris Sale was gifted a four-run lead Monday night at Camden Yards and couldn't make it last for more than a couple of innings in a 5-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
As a staff, Red Sox starters have a collective ERA of 6.71. Only the godawful Oakland A's, on pace to lose more than 130 games, are worse at 8.88.
How bad has the rotation been? In 24 games, the Sox are averaging just 4.75 innings per game from their starters. That figure is bad enough, but is far worse when you consider the additional burden it's meant for the team's relievers, who quite naturally, lead MLB with 97 innings. That kind of workload simply isn't sustainable over the course of a long season.
And to think: we haven't come close to the warm summer weather which can wear out staffs.
The outing from Sale was especially disheartening, if only because he provided some hope in his last start that he had figured some things out. His six innings of one-run ball against the Minnesota Twins last week made it seem that he had made his necessary adjustments. He struck out 11 in that outing, and even more encouraging, his fastball command was far better.
But even Sale hedged his bets some after the last one, noting his turnaround had just begun and that he couldn't expect to have solved all of his issues in one outing. Those words seemed prophetic Monday when he again missed his spots and was hit hard. In one particularly tough stretch in the fourth inning, the Orioles struck for four consecutive hits, every one of them hit hard.
The fifth inning wasn't much better as the Orioles strung together three hits over the span of four at-bats, leading to what turned out to be the winning run.
And there was this: in the very same ballpark that he once recorded his 300th strikeout in the 2017 season, Sale faced 21 hitters Monday night and failed to record a single strikeout.
If only Sale was the lone weak spot in the rotation. But that's hardly the case.
Garrett Whitlock has made three starts -- one superb, the other two highly ineffective. Brayan Bello has made two starts, and while Sunday's was better than his first, it didn't stop the Red Sox from optioning him to Worcester Monday afternoon. Nick Pivetta sports a 4.58 ERA and a WHIP of 1.375, but as his FIP of 5,16 indicates that Pivetta's been worse than the traditional numbers suggest.
Worst of all has been Corey Kluber, due to start Tuesday's second game in Baltimore. His 8.50 says it all, and what it says is hardly promising. One talent evaluator recently observed that he fears that the combination of years (37), innings (1,604 and counting) and injuries had conspired to leave Kluber with little left.
The lone starter who has performed anyway near his potential is Tanner Houck, who ironically, would have begun the year in the bullpen had not Bello and Whitlock been slowed in spring training with physical ailments. Houck may still end up contributing in relief -- either when James Paxton returns from his rehab stint or the performance of other less versatile starters improves.
For now, however, he's the best the Red Sox have. And with a 4.29 ERA, that's not saying much.
It's possible that Whitlock and Bello just need additional time after being restricted early. It's possible too, that Sale figures some things out and provides more outings like the one last week and fewer like the one he turned in Monday night.
The Sox have been competitive because they've somewhat improbably scored a lot of runs and their bullpen has managed to protect the leads to which they've been entrusted. How much longer both the lineup and the relievers can keep that up is anyone's guess.
What's more certain is this: given the importance of starting pitching, the Red Sox aren't going to be any better than .500 if the rotation doesn't start holding up its end of the bargain.