Red Sox’ offensive struggles highlight deeper issues with young core and clubhouse chemistry originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Boston Red Sox are in the midst of one of their worst seasons in a while, with a record of 13-21, and are dead last in the AL East. Their pitiful offense is costing them game after game, even with great defense and pitching.
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Overall, their young core is in a massive slump, and the veterans aren’t helping them either. Instead, the dysfunction of the team is out for everyone to see.
Boston’s young core is still slumping
Caleb Durbin
© Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images
The Red Sox were banking on their young core making the leap this year to make up for the offense they traded away last season and lost in the offseason. So far, all their second-year players are experiencing sophomore slumps.
Roman Anthony, the former No. 1 overall prospect in baseball, is one of the biggest victims of the slump. He’s only slashing .231/.357/.324/.681 with five doubles, one home run, and five RBI in 29 games.
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Caleb Durbin, the NL runner-up ROTY and Boston’s replacement for Alex Bregman, is doing even worse. He’s hitting .165/.254/.248/.502 with six doubles, a home run off a position player, and 11 RBI in 32 games.
Veterans aren’t really helping
Willson Contreras
© Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images
The Sox’ few veterans aren’t helping their rooks, one way or another. Some, like Trevor Story, aren’t leading by example. He’s one of the team’s worst slumpers, as he’s only hitting .208/.245/.300/.545 with six doubles, two home runs, and 19 RBI in 32 games.
Willson Contreras, on the other hand, is the opposite. He’s hitting great, slashing .280/.387/.492/.879 with four doubles, seven home runs, and 21 RBI in 33 games. However, his problem is more clubhouse-oriented.
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When he was talking to the media, Contreras suggested that it’s not ideal that the Sox’ lineup is primarily made up of young guys who aren’t used to slumping. Mayer immediately responded to that, and called Contreras out for it.
“To me, that’s kind of an excuse: blame the young guys. But at the end of the day, we’re all playing baseball, we’re all pros. We all know what we need to do. I don’t think we’re doing a good job with runners in scoring position. When you don’t do that, you don’t score runs,” Mayer retorted (via Sean McAdam).
Boston’s future in the 2026 season
Roman Anthony Ceddanne Rafela
© Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images
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If the Sox don’t release the tension and get it together, it seems like they will definitely be totally out of contention in the next month.
However, they did have a rough start to 2025, and still ended up making the playoffs. So, they shouldn’t be counted out yet, but the clock is ticking.
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