The 2016 Red Sox Are Dominant On the Road

The Red Sox are going to the playoffs, and don’t you dare take that for granted. After the last two miserable seasons in Boston, this is a tremendous leap forward and one that should be milked for every bit of entertainment it’s worth. That it’s also David Ortiz’s final season makes it all the more sweet. The Red Sox are almost certainly going to win the division. In fact, by the time you read this, maybe they already have! [Editor’s note: they have!] Don’t you dare take that for granted, either. The wildcard game is fun as hell, but it’s even more fun when you aren’t emotionally invested. No, the Red Sox will almost certainly get a full series to decide their playoff fate.

Beyond that, we don’t know a whole lot about what awaits the Red Sox as the calendar turns to October. The American League’s divisions are basically settled, with Boston, Cleveland and Texas all getting byes past the painfully fun wildcard round. The order of those three, though, is still very much up for grabs. As of this writing (Wednesday morning), all three teams are separated by exactly one game. Any permutation of the three teams is possible, meaning home field advantage in any given series remains to be seen. Luckily for Red Sox fans, that shouldn’t really matter as much for this team.

Right now, Boston stands with a 92-65 record, good for a .586 winning percentage. That’s really good, by the way. When they play at Fenway, they’ve had a 46-32 record, good for a .590 winning percentage. On the road, their record stands at 46-33, good for a .582 winning percentage. In other words, prior to Tuesday’s loss in New York, the Red Sox had an identical record at home and on the road. That’s not something that we typically notice when we’re so dug in to each individual game, but it’s a really impressive feat that has been aided by a strong second-half that has featured multiple long road trips. Really, this is a stark difference from what we’re used to in terms of great Red Sox teams.

What’s even more interesting is that the Red Sox look like some of the other great teams in recent memories that didn’t play in Fenway. The following table shows the home and road winning percentages for each of the last five World Series champions, plus the 2007 and 2004 Red Sox.

So, a few things stand out to me here. For one, the best Red Sox teams are generally otherworldly when they are at home and merely good when they are on the road. It does make some sense, as Fenway is such a unique ballpark that it is easier for Boston to tailor their team toward the field than it is for many other clubs in the league to build around such a unique home park. The other thing that stands out is that neither balance nor dominating at home is at all is required to succeed in the postseason. Obviously, that’s not really shocking, but it’s also something that I’d never seen confirmed.

Really, though, I’m interested in how this year’s Red Sox team has been able to buck the trend of so many other ones that flourished in Boston. There are a few factors that play into it as far as I can see. The first is that the offense is so deep and so balanced that it’s not really built for any specific ballpark. They can get on base from just about every spot in the lineup, and guys like Hanley Ramirez and David Ortiz can hit it out of every ballpark. This is simply a dynamic lineup, not one tailored to succeed in the weird dimensions of Fenway. More importantly than that, though, is that this is a really young team. They have an average age of 29, and that’s obviously brought up by having a 40-year-old playing every day. Much of their core is still in their early twenty’s. Obviously, it’s much easier for the young players to play through the long grind of a season and late-season road trips than those that are up there in age.

Regardless of the reasoning, this should be an advantage for the Red Sox as they look to compete in this crowded American League. In an ideal world, they probably want home field advantage whenever possible. However, they don’t need to make any big push for it. They’ve shown themselves to be different from past Red Sox squads by having equal success at home and on the road. While it’s scary to find a way in which this team is so different than the ones that have won the World Series, this team’s ability to be road warriors is a big advantage heading into October.

Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/USA Today Sports Images