A Red Sox season constantly seeking new lows found one that'll prove difficult to match. A potentially defining image for 2023 emerged on the final play of their sixth loss over the last seven games. Reese McGuire rose his arm in celebration, turning third base trying to score the game-tying run while Kevin Kiermaier caught Connor Wong's fly ball that fell just short of the Monster, then doubled-up McGuire at second base to clinch Toronto's 5-4 win and a crucial series in the wild card race.
"We all missed that one," Alex Cora said. "I think Reese took off, and Carlos (Febles) was looking at (Luis) Urías. Everybody thought it was gonna be off the wall, and it was a bad baseball play all around, for us. We all thought it was gone. Reese, from the get-go, I was just talking to him, he thought it was gone."
Even with 52 games remaining and reinforcements soon returning from injury, the Red Sox fell 4.0 games behind Blue Jays and saw their playoff odds dwindle further as underdogs with a loss emblematic of this team's entire dynamic. Rafael Devers crushed a game-tying home run on a pitch at his feet to erase his own fielding miscues and provide both hope and excitement. They have top-end talent. An opener with a platoon of relievers tried to patch together nine innings of pitching, allowing 20 Blue Jays to reach base, escaping decisive damage. They lack pitching depth and fielding skills.
Boston's hitters nearly powered a 32nd come-from-behind win in the ninth inning when McGuire, a player who arrived somewhat controversially last deadline after the unpopular Christian Vazquez trade, committed one of the more consequential mistakes on a team that routinely drops the ball. Then, on a day when Cora scratched Alex Verdugo for reportedly showing up only two hours before first pitch, signs of internal strife emerged.
Chaim Bloom acknowledged the Sox' mathematical playoff chances in not acting more aggressively at the trade deadline last week. He acquired a role player in Luis Urías, who was 3 of 7 in his first two appearances and recorded an important RBI single in the ninth inning with two strikes. Those unsung finds keep adding up: Hunter Renfroe in 2021, Kyle Schwarber that deadline, while Justin Turner, Jarren Duran and Wong have played excellent. Triston Casa's success added to the promise of Bloom's vision. McGuire played well at points since arriving too.
Bloom is an easy target and not the whole story. The Sox can mash the ball, and an admittedly difficult pitching plan to understand became successful in July. His success this year was built on an unstable foundation though. It required constant tinkering by the manager and cutting corners. On Saturday, the floor fell out from underneath the group, causing another day of soul-searching for a culture Bloom's prospects will eventually aspire to join and succeed within.
“I’m very disappointed,” Cora said. “This is probably one of my worst days here in this organization. You know, because from day one, everyone has been available from day one. We’ve had our issues, but we have taken care of our things and today we took a step back."
As much as Bloom's long-term approach came into view this year, with key minor league prospects emerging, it's difficult to imagine what they'll join once they're ready, since the big league club faces such glaring challenges. Ownership mercifully committed to Devers, which should've been a no-brainer. The infield depth on the roster tarnished this team's fielding ability and sent the entire unit spiraling throughout this season (30th in outs above average, -46) after the worst Sox fielding performances in recent memory already occurred in the prior season.
Whether that falls on Cora or bad personnel becomes difficult to assess, but after Cora's third base coach Carlos Febles twirled his finger signaling home run to McGuire before changing his mind as he rounded third base, the coaching staff is no longer beyond assessment. Febles has one job, and this wasn't his first mistake. Remember that Cora's devotion to Kiké Hernández at shortstop only added to their defensive misery.
Verdugo's benching on Saturday added to intrigue over where this group's at internally. Prior versions of this Sox also slid after relative trade deadline inaction by Bloom. That can't happen after Devers spoke out urging Bloom to act. He can't be the one making things more difficult on the team in the third inning, when he let two of the six opportunities to get Nick Pivetta out of the jam slip through his hands while the Jays built a 3-0 lead. It reminded me, somewhat, of the Mac Jones situation in New England last fall, Jones having every right to complain about the situation around him, while his response did little to help it.
"Manager's decision," Verdugo said. "We're gonna leave it at that and be ready to play tomorrow ... I don't really want to go too far into it. It's his decision and that's what we went with. Obviously, I want to be available and I want to help ... I guess (I take accountability). Like I said, it's the manager's decision and I respect his decision. He's the jefe (boss) ... I take responsibility, but at the end of the day, it's his decision, whether it hurt the team or helped team today, we don't know, but I like to think I help the team in different aspects ... today was a little bit hard to watch."
It's hard to grasp how this franchise can flash so much promise and become so watchable in tandem with MLB's new rules that push the game along at a lightning pace compared to past years, before pulling the chair out from you in agonizing ways. How the Sox are trending in the right direction while veering toward failure.
Their winning stretches put them on par with any competition around the league. Then, the ball begins flying all over the park out of the hands of unknown fielders like Jorge Alfaro, who launched an attempt to catch a Mets runner advancing to the center field warning track last week, turning a double into a home run. The Sox swept the Braves, the league's best team, to finish a month where Boston's pitching shined as much as other parts of the roster. They're now loading the bases against a Jays team they started 7-0 against.
Bloom allowed holes on the roster to fester, undermining extra efforts like Duran's base-running that helped the Sox play above their level. Whatever focus they lost, to some degree, falls back on Bloom. Expectations may sit too high for a franchise clearly in a transition period. That's reality in Boston though. Fans should know which direction the team's going in, and Bloom's trying to have it both ways while risking no members of Boston's brass reach the next steps in his long-term plan.
It's unsurprising his managerial efforts amount to roughly .500 play on the field through his tenure. This clubhouse may not handle the regression to that point well, along with another last-place finish. That response won't rub off well on the players Bloom hopes build the next core. As for ownership, which seemingly won't allow the front office to cover up its miscues with its significant advantage over the field -- financial resources -- they've made the path ahead harder on everyone involved.
That's the story of this year's Red Sox. They're capable of more, and leadership at every level is making things far too difficult on themselves.
"For us to do this, we have to be available," Cora said. "From coaches to players to analysts, to the front office, everybody has to be available every single day here. That's the bottom line, and today, one guy wasn't available."