Boston Red Sox
I will say, without hyperbole, that this has to be the worst Red Sox offense I have seen in my nearly 50 years of following the team.
The Red Sox’ offense has frustrated fans for most of the 2026 season. Barry Chin/Globe Staff
May 28, 2026 | 9:01 AM
4 minutes to read
Let me tell you, reading about swell things that once happened at Fenway Park is more satisfying than watching what’s going on with the resident team at the moment. Even when it adds emphasis to what’s missing — and what we’re missing — with the Red Sox.
During an opportune driving layover in Cooperstown, N.Y. — home of the Baseball Hall of Fame — I made a stop at Willis Monie Books, the kind of beautifully disjointed used bookstore where you’ll probably find a baseball book you’ve been looking for and almost certainly will come away with a couple more you didn’t know you needed.
One of my bookshelf’s worth of pickups during this recent visit was a diary of the enemy from my earliest days as a fan. Titled “The Best Team Money Could Buy: The Turmoil and Triumph of the 1977 Yankees,” it was written by Steve Jacobson, a legendary longtime beat writer for Newsday.
It’s the book I went there searching for, and it does not disappoint. The access is unfathomable nowadays, and the pages are filled with stunningly candid contempt — with players, especially egomaniac Reggie Jackson and insecure Thurman Munson, aiming it at each other, their reckless manager Billy Martin, and perpetually bloviating owner George Steinbrenner. It’s a breeze to read, a superb, overlooked historical companion to “The Bronx Zoo.”
Sorry, didn’t mean to go full book report on you there. There is a point to this, a contrast found in the book, that struck me as the opposite of what we’re experiencing now with the Red Sox’ punchless, inept, and likely irreparable offense.
The 1977 season did not end well for the Red Sox. Nothing really did in those days come autumn, no matter how fun the summer had been. The Yankees won the World Series, though they never really stopped bickering.
The best the Red Sox could was leave us with one of their more enjoyable what-ifs. The slugging ’77 Sox bashed 213 home runs. Three players hit at least 30 — Jim Rice (a league-leading 39), George Scott (33), and Butch Hobson (30), while Carl Yastrzemski (28) and Carlton Fisk (26) got close to joining them.
In 1977, the Red Sox got at least 26 home runs from five players, including (from left) Carlton Fisk, George Scott, Jim Rice, and Butch Hobson. – AP
Sixteen of the ’77 Red Sox’ homers came in a three-game sweep of the Yankees from June 17-19. “Thirteen of them,” wrote Jacobson, “would have been home runs in any national park.”
Great line, and one that again forced me to consider the contrast with the current Sox. Sixteen home runs in three games? I don’t believe the Red Sox will hit 16 home runs all season against the Yankees.
And yes, wise guy, the 2026 Red Sox — who entered Thursday’s series finale with the Braves with a 23-31 record, including a disgusting 9-18 mark at Fenway — do have more than 16 home runs as a team this season. They have 42, in fact. Willson Contreras has 11. Jarren Duran has eight. The rest of the team has 23, or two more than the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber, whom I hear is quite popular in Waltham.
I’m going to avoid chasing symmetry here and resist declaring that these Red Sox are the worst team money can buy, because it wouldn’t be fair to what has been an excellent starting rotation.
But I will say, without hyperbole, that this has to be the worst Red Sox offense I have seen in my nearly 50 years of following the team.
The 1992 Red Sox, under Hobson, were the only other sad candidate. They hit just 84 home runs as a team, and batted .246 with a .668 OPS.
Tom Brunansky led the way with 15 homers, and also drove in a team-high 74 runs. Brunansky played his last game in August 1994, his career effectively ended by the players’ strike. He’s 65 now. So, no, I don’t think it would be fair to ask him to bat any higher than seventh in this current lineup.
Sometimes I catch myself staring at the Red Sox’ baseball-reference page and counting the markers of their ineptitude. Starting catcher Carlos Narváez has three RBIs . . . Caleb Durbin has a .479 OPS . . . Roman Anthony and poor, overmatched Durbin have the same number of home runs, one . . . Changeup-phobic Marcelo Mayer has a .301 slugging percentage . . . Trevor Story has 19 times more strikeouts (57) than home runs (3) . . . Before Wednesday night’s eight-run outburst, the Red Sox were last in the American League in runs per game (3.77) and led only the Giants (3.67) among all teams . . . you know, upon reconsideration, Brunansky could probably hit sixth for this team.
During an appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” last week, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy said the team is already mining the trade market for a bat. “There’s been conversations going on earlier than ever before on that front,” he said.
That’s great. The problem is that they need three quality bats, minimum, to bump some of the underperformers, not-that-good veterans, and Quadruple-A types from the lineup. The Red Sox needed offensive help during their 89-win playoff season a year ago.
They came back worse, much worse despite Contreras’s efforts, and I fear it is not fixable this season.
So excuse me while I read about those bashing ’77 Sox, which in turn jostles memories of other outstanding Red Sox lineups (2003, anyone?) that were built to bash, built for the ballpark, and most importantly, built to win.
What’s that? Comparison is the thief of joy?
Yeah, have you been watching? So is this lineup.
Chad Finn
Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.
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