Red Sox Teammates Offer Conflicting Views On Offensive Struggles

Willson Contreras and Marcelo Mayer

Red Sox Teammates Offer Conflicting Views On Offensive Struggles originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

More than a month into the 2026 season, the Boston Red Sox's offense still hasn't gotten going.

The Red Sox enter play on Monday 27th in scoring at 3.82 runs per game. They're also 28th in home runs, 22nd in batting average, 22nd in OBP, 29th in slugging percentage and 28th in OPS.

There are many reasons for Boston's mediocre offensive production so far, from lack of pop and poor plate discipline to constant lineup changes and struggles with runners in scoring position.

The Red Sox's lineup has so many issues that not even the players themselves can agree on the biggest one.

After Sunday's frustrating 3-1 loss to the Houston Astros, Willson Contreras seemed to point the finger at the team's younger players for not having enough experience to pull out of their slumps, per MassLive's Sean McAdam.

Marcelo Mayer disagreed, however, blaming Boston's woes with runners in scoring position.

"To me, that's just kind of an excuse: blame the young guys," Mayer said via McAdam. "I don't think we're doing a good job with runners in scoring position. When you don't do that, you don't score runs."

Mayer is correct on both fronts. Several Red Sox veterans are underperforming, too, including Jarren Duran and Trevor Story. Everybody's struggling, not just the young guys.

Mayer's also right about the team's issues with runners in scoring position. During its three-game series against the Astros, Boston batted .107 and had a .492 OPS with runners in scoring position, including a 0-for-11 performance in those situations on Sunday.

The Red Sox's new coaching staff has not helped in that regard, but the hitters need to start producing more in key spots if they want to turn Boston's season around.

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