The magic is running out

Let's talk about the Boston Red Sox. It's an off day for the local nine on this July 3rd, and one could say that it's been an off season for the club as a whole in 2014. Coming into the day, the Red Sox were 8.5 games back of the AL East lead, sitting at a record of 38-47. But let's not talk about what's happened. Let's talk about what it means.

We're at a point for the Red Sox where many (myself included) are thinking that 2013 was the aberration in the most recent years of Boston baseball. Go back one season, and everything worked out for the Sox - Shane Victorino hit .294 in 122 games. David Ortiz drove in 100 runs and was selected to his ninth All-Star Game in ten seasons. Mike Napoli was healthy and productive at first base. Four starting pitchers had double-digit wins. The team had 11 walkoff wins by the beginning of August, capped off by overcoming a five-run deficit to Seattle on August 1st. The season was purely magical, coming off the momentum from what happened in April at the Boston Marathon. Everyone was healthy and productive, and the season culminated in a World Series win at Fenway.

None of that was supposed to happen.

The season the Red Sox had in 2013 was unforgettable, and was one of the most fun and exciting teams to ever follow. But this 2014 campaign looks more like the Red Sox we've expected. Victorino has played in a quarter of the team's games. No outfielder on the 25-man roster is hitting better than .234. The pitching staff is on pace to have two pitchers (Jon Lester and John Lackey) with more than six wins. Of the 14 hitters on the 25-man roster, six have spent time in Pawtucket in either 2013 or 2014, and four of these are regulars in the lineup (Brock Holt, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley, Daniel Nava). The team's two best players are on the wrong side of 38-years-old (David Ortiz, Koji Uehara).

If you exclude the 2013 season, the Red Sox' winning percentage since September of 2011 is .416 (114-160). Zero playoff wins since 2008 outside of the World Series run. Two managerial changes since the 2011-12 offseason. I'd like to say that it's time to push the panic button on the 2014 Red Sox, but there might not have even been one to begin with.