Sox eliminated from contention following inconsistent second half

TORONTO -- After being unable to sustain much momentum coming out of the All-Star break, the Red Sox provided a flicker of hope with a four-game winning streak that staved off elimination for a few days.

But the reality of the pending offseason set in on Wednesday night at Rogers Centre, as a 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays, combined with wins from both Detroit and Kansas City, officially ended Boston’s postseason chances.

The club will have a day off on Thursday before wrapping up the 2024 season with a three-game series at Fenway against the Rays.

While you’d be hard-pressed to find a prognosticator who picked the Red Sox to make it to the playoffs prior to the season, the club defied external expectations for a stretch, holding a two-game lead for the third American League Wild Card spot at the All-Star break.

However, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow chose not to lean on that as a crutch in an interview just hours before his club was eliminated.

“I think we play these games to make it to the postseason, win the World Series,” said Breslow. “So falling short of that, it should be a disappointment. I want it to be a disappointment. I want it to hurt. That doesn't mean we can't find things that we did well, or things that are encouraging or reasons for optimism, but at the end of the day, you play these seasons to win games and get to the postseason. We are … looking at a season where that didn't happen.”

After the game, manager Alex Cora bemoaned the missed opportunity to take advantage of some of the other contenders struggling in September.

“Outside our walls here, nobody expected us to play meaningful games all the way until now,” said Cora. “But our goal was to make it to the playoffs. It didn’t happen, but it’s a good learning experience for those kids over there. I mean, at one point it felt like we were a playoff-caliber team, and then we missed the opportunity. Let’s put it that way. You look around, you look at the teams that are fighting, we had it right there and we blew it.”

The opportunity to get to October was undone by the team’s 27-36 record following the All-Star break. By contrast, the Sox were 54-43 prior to the break.

“In this game, you have to take advantage of opportunities, you’ve got to be consistent,” said Cora. “After the All-Star break, we were very inconsistent.”

For the Red Sox, the season essentially had three phases: The first third, when the starting rotation excelled, but the club consistently muddled around .500; the middle third, when the offense and athleticism were on full display, allowing them to stay right in the thick of contention through the Trade Deadline; and the final third, when the rotation faltered, then recovered, the bullpen struggled for chunks of time and the offense went into a month-long slump -- a combination of events that took them out of contention.

“I think one of the challenges that I have, that we have is, ‘Is this what we are? Is this who we are?’ vs. ‘Are there some material things we can point to that are reasons that we kind of deviated off [course]?’” said Breslow. “I think those evaluations are best made once the season's over and you have the chance to remove some of the emotion and look at the total body of work.”

That total body of work included leadoff man Jarren Duran emerging into one of the most dynamic players in the game. It included rookies Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and David Hamilton all proving they have a place in the Major Leagues.

It included Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford and Brayan Bello all reaching the 30-start mark for the first time in their young careers, while each setting personal bests in innings pitched.

The Red Sox had several crushing losses down the stretch that will haunt them while watching other teams in the playoffs.

The go-ahead grand slam by Aaron Judge on Sept. 13, a game in which the Sox had a 4-0 lead, was a crusher. More recently, their Sept. 20 loss against the Twins in which Boston went 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position and left 17 on base while striking out 20 times in a 12-inning loss was, in hindsight, the blow that couldn’t be recovered from.

Though the four-game winning streak that followed that agonizing Minnesota defeat was a stepping stone, the Sox would have had to run the table and finish the season with eight straight victories to have any chance to get to October.

And even that probably wouldn’t have been enough.

“I thought we had a pretty good year. I mean, we made a good run.” said Duran. “We just ran into some slumps that didn't help us. It’s a good building block for next year.”