This time of year, as the runway of games left dwindles down, you especially rue the near-misses, the games that looked like wins but turned into losses. That was the case earlier this week when the Red Sox let a three-game sweep of the Rangers slip away in a back-and-forth affair that ended in a 9-7 Texas win.
Despite a good outing for Tanner Houck (6.2 IP, 2 ER), Red Sox sloppy defense and baserunning combined with a bullpen meltdown for what should have been a win.
It’s tempting to flush away memories of those games given that Boston had already won that series with wins in the first two games of the set. It is difficult, after all, to sweep any Major League team. But winnable losses like last Wednesday’s take on added focus as the race for a postseason spot tightens up.
Of the 57 Red Sox losses this season, 16 (like that last game against Texas) have been by a two- or one-run margin. Twelve of them happened over the first two months of the season. Those games loom large now as missed opportunities. Winning half of them would put the Red Sox at 69-51 (.575) and in a better position to reach the playoffs.
The Red Sox have improved in close games. Boston is on pace for 22 losses this year by no more than a two-run margin, and on pace for 11 losses by just one run. Last season they had 36 and 25 such games, respectively. Eleven one-run losses in 2024 would, in fact, be their fewest such losses in any full season since 1986, when they had 10.