Boston Red Sox Offense Has Very Predictable Problem

It has been a roller coaster of a season for the Boston Red Sox , who sit at 7-11 and in last place in the American League East entering play on Thursday. Through the first three weeks of the year, the team has looked like it needs absolutely everything to go right for them to win games; the starter needs to work deep into the game, the offense needs to limit strikeouts and get on base, and the bullpen needs to be completely shut down. Thus far, that has happened just seven times.

The most glaring part of the Red Sox' need to be perfect to win is their lack of a power bat, a hole still left unfilled after the trade of Rafael Devers, and a problem that nearly everyone saw coming. Rafael Devers hits his 2nd HR of the year to give the Giants the lead 💣 pic. twitter.

com/MWxskUqlkx — Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) April 8, 2026 Entering the 2026 season, the Red Sox were the only team in Major League Baseball not to have a single batter projected to hit 20 or more home runs by ZIPS: a notion that Red Sox manager Alex Cora brushed off numerous times in the lead-up to the season, telling MassLive's Christopher Smith , "I really believe somebody’s going to hit 20 home runs for the Red Sox. ” Through these 18 games, the Red Sox' 12 home runs have them ranked 29th in baseball. Ironically, the only team behind them is Devers' San Francisco Giants , who have hit just nine.

While their slugging percentage of . 355 has them ranked 24th. The lack of pop has been a problem for Boston since Devers was traded.