The Red Sox expired with a last gasp in the bottom of the ninth inning that left everyone at friendly Fenway Park with thoughts of what might have been. Mookie Betts, the 2018 American League MVP, scored from first base on a diving slide ahead of a half-hearted throw from Baltimore right fielder Stevie Wilkerson. Rafael Devers’s ground ball had caromed off shortstop Richie Martin and into shallow right field. Wilkerson picked it up, hesitated and then lobbed a toss toward home plate that Betts beat easily for a 5-4 triumph.
Where was such luck for the Red Sox in late March and early April, when they staggered through a disastrous season-opening West Coast road trip? Or in August and September, when they sputtered out of the run for the last playoff spot? The Red Sox finished with a record of 84-78, 19 games behind the division-winning New York Yankees and 12 behind Tampa Bay for the second playoff wild card.
The sad irony for Wilkerson is that an inning earlier he had robbed Jackie Bradley Jr. of a home run when he leaped at the 380 sign on the visitors bullpen fence, caught Bradley’s drive and held on to the ball as he bounced over the barrier separating the bullpen from the right field grandstand and rolled off the shorter grandstand wall.
Everything that went right for the 2018 Red Sox went wrong for their 2019 successors. Pitchers who delivered in 2018 and helped the team to 119 victories and the World Series Championship — Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Nathan Eovoldi — were injured or ineffective in 2019. The bullpen that surprised us in 2018 disappointed us in 2019 with 28 blown saves. Shave that in half, and the Red Sox might still be alive.
Hitters who terrorized pitching staffs from New York to Los Angeles in 2018 — Andrew Benintendi, Steve Pearce, Mitch Moreland — struggled in 2019, especially in April and May.
The manager, Alex Cora, who could do no wrong in 2018 had few answers in 2019. The baseball operations chief, Dave Dombrowski, who assembled the championship team in 2018 , partly with deft trade deadline deals, mortgaged the club’s future in 2019 by offering lucrative long-term contracts to the heroes of 2018 and then stood idly by while they struggled. He has been fired.
In addition to friends and family who filled their Fenway Park home night after night during the summer, survivors include shortstop Xander Bogaerts; third baseman Rafael Devers; catcher, Christian Vazquez, and left-handed starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, each of whom enjoyed a breakout season, plus outfielder Mookie Betts and designated hitter J.D. Martinez.
Bogaerts hit .309 with 33 home runs and 111 RBI. Devers had 201 hits and led the majors with 359 total bases and 90 extra base hits. He hit .311 with 33 homers and 115 RBI. Vazquez hit 23 home runs, his career best, and drove in 72. Rodriguez threw 203.1 innings and struck out 213 while posting a 19-6 record. He would have won 20 but for the bullpen’s 28th blown save.
Betts rallied from a slow start and hit .295 with 29 home runs. He scored 135 runs, the most by a Red Sox player since Ted Williams scored 150 times 70 years ago in 1949. Martinez led the team with 36 home runs, batted .304 and drove in 105 runs.
Unlike the duck boat parade through the streets of Boston to celebrate the 2018 championship Red Sox, there will be no funeral procession for the 2019 team.
