The Boston Red Sox offense this season is setting a pace to become one of the best ever in franchise history. Earlier this week, the Red Sox swept the Oakland Athletics in three games while scoring 40 runs in the process.
Boston before its Thursday night games against the Houston Astros had scored 196 runs over its first 34 games, which is an average of 5.75 per game that would project out to 934 on the season.
However, the record for the team is 1,027 set in 1950 in just 154 games. Times are different now and run scoring has not been that great of late, but this season’s Red Sox look to change that.
It was the first time since the Atlanta Braves in 2007, that a team has scored 11 or more runs in four consecutive games and only the fourth since 1961.
In its outburst over its past four games, Boston is hitting .397, slugging at a .699 clip and recording 17 doubles and 10 homers.
On the season, the Red Sox are hitting .295, which is 17 points higher than second best Pittsburgh at .278.
Comparing the Red Sox to prior Red Sox teams is a difficult task but it is simple to look at the numbers and see the team is on pace to set franchise records in some offensive categories and come close to setting others.
While the Red Sox are now scoring at a clip of 5.91 runs per game after Thursday’s 11-1 rout of Houston, the Chicago Cubs are averaging 5.94 runs per game, which is even higher than Boston.
This season, the National League is averaging more scoring per team than in the American League. However, the Cubs do not have a designated hitter in their lineup like Boston does, making their scoring output just as impressive or more so than Boston’s.
Looking at both Boston and Chicago, the Red Sox have a better average with runners in scoring position so there are other factors involved in why the Cubs are scoring more such as base running where Chicago is ranked as the majors best team.
The season is young, with less than 25% of the 162-game schedule played, but the Red Sox are showing early on that they are a force to be reckoned with in the American League.
