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BOSTON — What changed? What catapulted the Red Sox over the Yankees in offensive production this season after the Yankees mashed better last year? Sure, the Red Sox acquired J
D. Martinez, who has been spectacular. The Yankees, however, picked up Giancarlo Stanton, who has climbed back from a rough start to give his new team a clear upgrade over last year’s primary designated hitter, Matt Holliday
No, the clear differential so far has been a department that has occasionally plagued the Yankees since they opened their new ballpark and heavily prioritized going deep: Hitting with runners in scoring position
“Usually those things kind of line up. Teams that are good in those spots tend to have a lot of good hitters, and vice versa,” Aaron Boone said Sunday, before the Yankees and Red Sox concluded their weekend series at Fenway Park
“But I think over the course of the year, whether you have a great year doing it, whether you have a down year, whatever it is, there’s usually going to be some kind of ebb and flow off of what you are
” Entering Sunday night’s action, the Yankees carried a .777 OPS with runners in scoring position, fifth in the American League
The Red Sox led the junior circuit, and stood far ahead of the Yankees, at .876. In overall OPS, they sat next to each other and much closer, the Sox topping the league at
795 and the Yankees owning second place at .787. The Yankees’ overall OPS had ticked upward from last year’s
785, whereas the Sox had dramatically improved from their .736 mark in 2017. Concurrently, the Yankees had an OPS of
804 last year in clutch situations, ramping up slightly, and Boston ramped up considerably to
801 … still falling far short of the league’s elite. What to make of all this? There appears to be an element of randomness to this skill
After all, Joe Girardi and John Farrell lost their managing gigs from the Yankees and Red Sox, respectively, in part because the rivals agreed that they wanted a younger voice more in touch with the players
Yet both clubs actually stepped it up in these clutch situations under their now-deposed skippers; the Red Sox have maintained that knack under Alex Cora, whereas the Yankees have not with Boone
“I feel like we had a stretch where we were really good. We’ve had our stretches where we’ve been down a little bit, too,” Boone said
“That’s part of it. Especially a team like us that’s built on getting on base and slug, we’ve had our downtimes as well
” Since the Yankees pummeled David Price and the Red Sox 11-1 on July 1, the Yankees tallied a
784 OPS in the next 28 games, as per FanGraphs. So they actually had raised their overall number in this area
In the same period, the Red Sox had an OPS of .935. Just like many aspects of this unusual season, the Yankees haven’t faltered as much as the Red Sox have thrived
“We put the ball in play, which is very important. We give ourselves a chance,” Cora said
“I don’t know numbers-wise if that’s true, but it feels that way. “… You look at teams that don’t strike out often, there’s a lot of them chasing a playoff spot
We’re one of them. The Astros are one of them. The Mariners. The Pirates. You put them in play, you give yourself a chance
” The Red Sox had struck out the sixth-fewest times, 859 entering Sunday’s game. The Yankees, with 972 whiffs, ranked eighth-highest
“I think some guys do have a little bit more of a knack, but I do think it bears out who you are as a hitter,” Boone said
Will that wisdom create a market correction by which the Red Sox regress and the Yankees improve in this critical department? If the Yankees are going to play a “pretty lights-out brand of baseball” in order to make the AL East competition a legitimate race again, it can start with this area for both them and their rival