Boston, MA
The 2023 Red Sox: By the numbers
Baseball is a numbers game. It has always been a numbers game.
Number of games played, homers hit, runs driven in, strikeouts, walks. Wins and losses. Averages and percentages. Single-season and career statistics. Record highs and personal worsts.
That’s not even getting into the advanced metrics of the modern era.
One stat alone won’t tell the full story. In 2023, the Red Sox finished 78-84, in last place for the third time in four seasons. But their record belies how great they were at times, on both individual and collective levels.
To truly understand this team, why they flourished, faltered, and how they ultimately failed, one must examine the numbers behind the numbers. So, one last time before the calendar page mercifully flips to a new year and clean slate, here are the 2023 Red Sox by the numbers:
Record and records
Here’s an odd bit of trivia: this was the ninth season in which the Red Sox won exactly 78 games, but only the sixth time they also finished with exactly 84 losses. The 1905, 1911, and 1935 teams each compiled 78 wins, but only 74 or 75 losses, making them three winning seasons.
Also hidden within their record were some unfortunate firsts. Among them, an early September contest which became the first 9-inning loss in franchise history in which the Red Sox collected at least 21 hits.
For the third year running, the Red Sox led all Major League teams in doubles (339). Excluding the shortened 2020 season, that streak goes back to 2018. They were second in the game in batting average on balls in play (BABIP), and ranked sixth in batting average (.258) and ninth in slugging percentage (.424). They were fourth in hits (1,437), 11th in runs (772) and RBI (734), but a lack of power left them 18th in homers (182). They were a respectable 13th in strikeouts (1,372), but didn’t draw nearly enough walks (24th, 486), and left 1,117 men on base, 12th-most in the Majors.
What really did them in, though, was starting pitching or lack thereof. With an all-too-familiar dearth of durability in the rotation, 17 different pitchers cobbled together starts for Boston in 2023. Quality starts – at least six innings, no more than three earned runs – were few and far between. There were 47 of them this year, an improvement of exactly one over last year’s mark. In fact, the last four seasons have yielded the club’s lowest quality-start counts of the Live Ball Era, which began in 1920.
However, Kutter Crawford made franchise history as the first pitcher to record as many as four games of at least six innings pitched and one hit allowed in a single season. He and National League Cy Young winner Blake Snell led the Majors with four such outings apiece.
Speaking of Cy Young awards, relievers aren’t typically in the conversation – the last bullpen arm to take home the prestigious pitching accolade was Eric Gagne with the Dodgers in ‘03 – but Chris Martin received a fifth-place vote this year, and finished 12th overall for AL Cy Young. He posted a 1.05 ERA over 55 appearances for Boston this season, and consistently carried the later inning workload for almost the entire season.
Justin Turner spent his age-38 season doing things the David Ortiz way. He joined Ortiz and Bob Johnson as the only Red Sox players to drive in 96 or more runs in a single season at 38 or older.
And how many rookie-eligible players have drawn 70 or more walks in a single season? Triston Casas just became the sixth in franchise history. He did so in 132 games, second only to Billy Goodman’s 1948 season, when he walked 74 times in 127 contests. Casas also became the fifth Red Sox rookie under 24 years old to homer at least 24 times in a single season, and the first since Nomar Garciaparra in 1997.
Debuts
Thanks to a replenished farm system, when the Red Sox needed reinforcements, they were able to call up some high-caliber talent. Eight players made their major league debuts in the following order: Masataka Yoshida, Enmanuel Valdez, Chris Murphy, Joe Jacques, David Hamilton, Brandon Walter, Wilyer Abreu, and Ceddanne Rafaela.
The farm system, meanwhile, improved to No. 5 in Baseball America’s organizational rankings, and No. 2 in FanGraphs’.
Memorable Milestones
In May, Kenley Jansen became the seventh pitcher in MLB history to convert 400 saves. Two weeks later, former Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel joined him in the club. Oddly enough, both picked up No. 400 in Atlanta, against a team they both played for previously.
Devers reached and promptly blew past 150 career home runs, 200 career doubles, and 500 career RBI. With his 400th career extra-base hit in mid-September, he became the first player in franchise history to reach the mark before turning 27. (Ted Williams would’ve done it, if not for his three years of military service in World War II.)
Adam Duvall passed the 400 career runs and 500 career RBI marks, and Justin Turner reached 300 doubles. Before getting traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kiké Hernández picked up career home run No. 100.
Payroll
Last, but certainly not least, the bottom line.
Last December, Chaim Bloom gave Masataka Yoshida a five-year contract for $90 million, the largest ever for a Japanese position player. Then, in January, Devers signed a franchise-record 10-year contract extension worth $313.5 million, far surpassing the previous record: the seven-year, $217M they gave David Price in 2015.
However, overall spending headed in the opposite direction. After finishing in last place with a payroll over the Competitive Balance Threshold in 2022, the Red Sox reset their penalties this year. Despite vocal pleas from their players to bring in reinforcements before the midsummer trade deadline, the brass stood pat. According to Spotrac, Boston finished the season with just under $222.5 million in luxury tax spending, leaving over $10 million in space. That put them 12th in the league in spending.
While the Red Sox came under fire for scrimping, it’s worth pointing out that the three top spenders this year, the Mets ($374.6M), Yankees ($296.3M), and Padres ($291.2M), all missed the postseason, too.
Boston, MA
FIFA releases Boston World Cup 2026 national teams and schedule for matches at Gillette Stadium – The Boston Globe
Saturday, June 13, 9 p.m.: Haiti vs. Scotland, Group C.
Tuesday, June 16, 6 p.m.: Norway vs. whoever emerges from the qualifying playoff tourney between Iraq, Bolivia, and Suriname, Group I.
Friday, June 19, 6 p.m.: Scotland vs. Morocco, Group C.
Tuesday, June 23, 4 p.m.: No. 5 England vs. Ghana, Group L.
Friday, June 26, 3 p.m.: Norway vs. No. 3 France, Group I.
The June 26 matchup will feature arguably the two top strikers in the world, Norway’s Erling Haaland and France’s Kylian Mbappe.
For a Round of 32 game Monday, June 29, the winner of Group E will play one of the third-place finishers from Groups A, B, C, D, or F. Should the US national team perform below expectations in a Group D it is favored by most to win, there is a chance it could play at Boston Stadium in that June 29 match.
A July 9 quarterfinal match will be played at 4 pm.
While Brazil is one of the teams that will not be playing at Gillette, local organizers are still pleased with how everything shook out, both from a high-caliber soccer perspective and seeing a robust group of international fans visit greater Boston and pump dollars into its economy.
“We got two highlight matches, which is amazing,” said Brian Bilello, Boston 26 board chair and president of the Revolution. “We’ve got France-Norway, where you wind up with two of the top five players in the world in Mbappe and Haaland playing against each other, that match is going to be a pretty special one.
“And the other top Pot 1 team is England, which is always a popular team and that should be a fun match against Ghana.”
For fifth-ranked Brazil not to play in Boston will come as a disappointment to many, especially in Framingham with its large Brazilian population. But Bilello, without elaborating, fueled widely available rumors that Brazil will play France in a friendly at Gillette on March 28.
“We know our Brazilian fans are going to be somewhat disappointed but hopefully we have a way of making them happy this spring with something else,” said Bilello.
Besides Brazil, the final draw eliminated these teams from visiting Boston: Group I’s Senegal, and Croatia and Panama from Group L.
There are 16 host cities, 11 in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada.
Martha Sheridan, a Boston 26 honorary board member and president/CEO of Meet Boston, said she was “generally very pleased” with the draw results.
“We’re getting folks from Norway and England and France, who tend to travel well for their matches,” said Sheridan. “And I also love the fact that we have Morocco and Haiti, which from a local perspective is just lovely. The community can have some pride in their teams because we do have a considerably high Haitian (in Boston) and Moroccan population (in East Boston and Revere).”
With approximately 32,000 hotel rooms available in Boston, Sheridan does not expect any challenges in accommodating visitors.
One unknown is if fans from Haiti will be allowed to visit. Haiti is on a list of countries that the Trump administration has banned its citizens from traveling to the United States for terrorism and national security concerns.
“My hope is that the federal government is wanting to have a very successful World Cup here in the US, so maybe they will look differently at those bans in light of the fact that Haiti does have a team coming here,” said Sheridan.
FIFA spent Friday night and into Saturday morning figuring out the final pieces of the logistical puzzle of placing the 48 teams in those venues, balancing travel, time zones, recovery, and preparation factors.
The Revolution’s training center near Gillette will be used by national teams in the days before each match.
Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., will be paired with one team playing in Foxborough as a base camp for the duration of its tournament survival. Other Boston area locations may yet be announced. (FIFA controls the process.)
With Scotland and Norway each playing two matches in Boston, chances increase they will want to set up a base camp in the area.
“Now that we know who’s coming, the excitement is just going to continue to build,” said Sheridan. “It will be here before we know it and we cannot wait to welcome the world to Boston.”
Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.
Boston, MA
Celtics spread the joy as they blow out shorthanded Lakers – The Boston Globe
But the Celtics willingly and methodically disposed of the roster that was placed in front of them, roaring to a 29-point first-half lead before cruising to a 126-105 win, their fourth in a row.
“I thought we were the harder-playing team right from the jump,” Sam Hauser said. “Obviously we got off to a great start and maintained that.”
Jaylen Brown had 30 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists to lead the Celtics, who buried Los Angeles with another flammable shooting night. Boston made 46 of 84 shots overall, and 24 of 45 3-pointers (53.3 percent).
The Celtics failed to reach the 40-percent mark from the 3-point line in their first 12 games of the season, and their 5-7 record was a direct result of that. During that grisly shooting stretch, coach Joe Mazzulla insisted that the poor numbers were more due to shooting misfortune than shoddy execution.
On Friday, he acknowledged that the shooting luck might have tilted in the opposite direction. He was still pleased with the overall approach.
“I thought we had great execution,” he said. “I liked the shots we got.”
The Celtics are averaging 121.9 points per 100 possessions, tied for the second-best offensive rating in the NBA. Following all of the notable departures this summer as well as Jayson Tatum’s absence because of his Achilles injury, this level of production would have seemed unfathomable at the start of the year.
Despite these gaudy numbers, guard Payton Pritchard does not think the offense has reached its peak. He said it’ll “be exciting” to continue the ascension.
“If everybody’s just focused on, ‘How can I just get a little bit better each day, each game, no matter win or loss?,’ ” Pritchard said, “then eventually we’ll become the team we want to become.”
Jordan Walsh followed his strong game Thursday against the Wizards by making 6 of 7 shots and scoring 17 points Friday. He is 18 for 19 from the field over the last three games, and his rise since joining the starting lineup has been Boston’s most encouraging development.
Austin Reaves had 36 points to lead Los Angeles, but the Celtics mostly bottled him up during the first half, when he was just 2 for 7 from the field and his team stumbled into a deep hole.
Surprisingly, some of the night’s loudest cheers were reserved for James’s son, Bronny, the second-year guard. Following scattered “we want Bronny” chants during the second half, he checked in to some applause midway through the fourth. The crowd erupted when Bronny had a one-handed dunk and a 3-pointer, although the lopsided score probably factored into the warm reaction.

Celtics guard Derrick White started 3 for 4 from the 3-point line, and his pull-up from the top of the key with 6:18 left gave Boston a 19-7 lead. Its advantage remained in double digits the final 39 and a half minutes.
Brown was a distributor for most of the opening quarter. He passed up a few challenging shots to find teammates closer to the rim, but he scored 7 points in the final three minutes — all inside the arc — helping the Celtics extend their lead to 39-17.
The shooting cooled slightly in the second quarter, but the big lead left room for that. A 3-pointer by Hauser with 10:06 left stretched the advantage to 49-21 and provided another example of Boston’s balance. Nearly midway through the quarter, no Celtic had attempted more than five shots.
Boston’s defense let up in the third quarter — five turnovers added extra stress — and Reaves found a second wind following his slow start.
He poured in 16 points in the period, and the Lakers shot 63.2 percent from the field, helping them pull within 97-82 after three quarters. But the Celtics started the fourth with a 9-0 run.
“These last two games, we kind of just put our foot on the gas and took care of business,” Pritchard said.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.
Boston, MA
The groups are set for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and we’re a step closer to knowing which teams will play in Foxborough – The Boston Globe
The group stage games in Foxborough will feature Group C (June 13 and 19), Group I (June 16 and 26) and Group L (June 23). The winner of Group E will play its Round of 32 elimination stage game at Foxborough on June 29 against the third-place finisher in group A, B, C, D, or F.
Group C, which has two games at Gillette, is headlined by Brazil and also includes Morocco, Scotland, and Haiti.
Group I will also stage two games at Gillette, with 2018 champion France joined by Senegal, Norway, and one team yet to be determined by a qualifying playoff (either Iraq, Bolivia, or Suriname).
The other group-stage match in Foxborough will involved Group L, which features England, Croatia, Ghana, and Panama.
While the groups for the Gillette Stadium games are set, the specific matchups won’t be released until Saturday.
The only matchups set are the opening games among the groups including the host nations: Mexico in Group A, Canada in Group B, and the United States in Group D.
Mexico will host South Africa at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca on June 11. Canada will play Toronto’s BMO Field on the June 12 against one of the remaining qualifiers from the European playoffs, which could be either Northern Ireland, Italy, Wales, or Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The United States will kick off Group D on June 12 against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Of the 48 spots, 42 nations have punched their tickets leaving six spots up for grabs. Twenty-two countries have paths to qualify, with competitions to determine the spots set for March.
The tournament, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, kicks off June 11.
Gillette Stadium, which FIFA will call “Boston Stadium” for the World Cup, will host seven matches. Five will be group stage games, taking place from June 13-26. Foxborough will then host two knockout stage games: A Round of 32 match on June 29 and a quarterfinal on July 9.
Here are all the groups for the 2026 FIFA World Cup:
Group A: Mexico, South Korea, South Africa, Winner of Playoff D (Denmark, North Macedonia, Ireland, or Czechia)
Group B: Canada, Switzerland, Qatar, Winner of Playoff A (Northern Ireland, Italy, Wales, or Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti
Group D: United States, Australia, Paraguay, Winner of Playoff C (Turkiye, Romania, Slovakia, or Kosovo)
Group E: Germany, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Curacao
Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia, Winner of Playoff B (Ukraine, Sweden, Poland, or Albania)
Group G: Belgium, Iran, Egypt, New Zealand
Group H: Spain, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Cabo Verde
Group I: France, Senegal, Norway, Winner of Playoff 2 (Iraq, Bolivia, or Suriname)
Group J: Argentina, Austria, Algeria, Jordan
Group K: Portugal, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Winner of Playoff 1 (Congo DR, Jamaica, or New Caledonia)
Group L: England, Croatia, Panama, Ghana
Emma Healy can be reached at emma.healy@globe.com or on X @ByEmmaHealy. Hayden Bird can be reached at hayden.bird@globe.com. Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com.
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