Boston Red Sox: 3 players that failed to meet expectations this season

Let’s face it; a lot went right for the Boston Red Sox this season. They found their way to the playoffs despite being counted out all season long, eliminated the supposedly superior New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, and gave a vastly superior Houston Astros team a run for their money in the ALCS. Quite a turnaround for a team that was one of the worst in baseball during the shortened 2020 season.

Regardless of the disappointing finish to the season, the Sox are in good position to continue to be World Series contenders well into the future now. They filled out the roster with established veterans to help out their core of star players, and the result was a team that fell two wins short of their fifth World Series appearance of the 21st century.

But that doesn’t mean that this team was without it’s flaws this season. They had all the momentum against Houston in the ALCS after going up 2-1 in the series, and were just six outs away from taking a 3-1 lead in Game 4 before the wheels fell off.

While the struggles this team faced cannot be placed on just one player, there were certainly a couple of players on the season that failed to step up and meet the expectations that had been set for them coming into the season. Let’s take a look at three players that failed to meet expectations this season, starting with one of the more confusing collapses on the season.