It’s been an odd second half for most of Major League Baseball. Just look at the Detroit Tigers, who were 55-63 on Aug. 10 with a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs, and will play baseball in October for the first time since 2014. The Philadelphia Phillies won the National League East for the first time since 2011, despite going 33-33 since the All-Star break. It’s the first season without at least one 100-win ball club since 2014.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox, who were projected to finish last and win 79 games this year, weren’t mathematically eliminated from the AL Wild Card race until Wednesday.

Yet going into the All-Star break, the Red Sox looked poised for October. They held the third Wild Card and were within five games of the division title before a stunning late-summer collapse. After going 53-43 in the first half, they went 28-38 the rest of the way.

What happened? The Herald asked several members of the Red Sox why they think they ultimately came up short.

Rob Refsnyder, OF

“If we’re gonna be honest, most people didn’t think we’d be playing meaningful baseball. So, at the end of the day it’s disappointing. We just blew it in the second half. I mean, we had a two-game lead on that last Wild Card going into the break. So we just blew it. I don’t think we hit that stride where everything was kind of firing together.”

“It’s super frustrating. I mean, obviously when you’re competing every day, you’re very aware of what you’re deficient in and things like that. So yeah, it’s disappointing for the fan base, I’m sure. But no one really cares as much as the players, and the players have taken it really hard, and it’s disappointing. We were hoping to prove a lot of people wrong, and we fell short again, simple as that.”

Trevor Story, SS

“It’s tough to say. Baseball is such a strange sport. There’s ebbs and flows to it. There’s momentum to it and I think it can be contagious, in a good way and in a bad way. We’ve got to do a better job of maintaining the ups and downs there, when we’re good we feel like we’re the best team in baseball and when we’re bad it feels like the opposite. Being able to be a little more consistent, just a little more steady when it comes to the ups and downs, that’s where we can gain ground.”

Vaughn Grissom, 2B

“I mean, how many injuries did we have? Gio (Lucas Giolito). We had Story out, who’s the heart and soul, we had (Triston) Casas out, Masa (Yoshida) was gone, (Rafael) Devers was grinding. Me. We had a lot of (expletive) going on. So that’s what went wrong. There’s parts that people don’t even see, players battling and doing whatnot. I think next year, if we have a healthy season, I think we’re gonna be straight. I think we’re gonna be more than good. I think we’re gonna be the team to beat.”

Triston Casas, 1B

“There’s so many things that happen in a baseball game to result in a win or a loss, and to single out one moment or a person or thing is too tough. It feels like last year in a way, where we were stretch-oriented and we were streaky. We would win here and there and then we’d go on a little cold streak, and then win a little bit more. I think just weathering those storms and getting out of cold streaks and losing streaks faster could be the adjustment for next year, but I don’t know, because we’re a really positive group.”

“I think Triston Casas, Vaughn Grissom, and Trevor Story need to be in the lineup for 150 games. I think that sways the meter. I think Lucas Giolito, Garrett Whitlock, and Liam Hendriks make the difference. I think you put these six players on the field for a full season and we go from 80 wins to more than that.”

Tanner Houck, RHP

“I think the biggest thing for all of us is health. By no means is it anyone’s fault that we didn’t make it. I think that ultimately at the end of the day, God had a different plan for us. But I think all in all, this was a great win for a lot of our young guys and a lot of guys to kind of establish themselves this year. Wilyer and Ceddanne, Duran, myself, Kutter. Guys had a winning year, not just on the field, but a winning year in terms of development and growth and knowing what it takes to get through a whole healthy season. For me, Kutter, and Bello, pitching a lot of innings and all three of us hitting 30 starts. And we had so many guys step up in roles that we didn’t expect them to be doing.”

Kutter Crawford, RHP

“I think the big thing was we couldn’t play our best baseball in all facets of the game at the same time. We would tear the cover off the ball at one point of the season, and when we were tearing the cover off the ball we wouldn’t pitch well. When we pitched well we couldn’t score runs, and stuff like that. I don’t know if there’s any rhyme or reason to fix the timing of that stuff, it’s just one of those things where it didn’t all sync up this year. We have a very young group here and a lot of players took a big step in their career and development, and I think the future is bright for us.”

Chris Martin, RHP

“Inconsistency. You’ll experience that with a younger team. I think there is a ton of talent in here, it’s been a lot of fun seeing these guys grow and become better. Obviously going into next year now they’ve got even more experience. We slumped there at times we needed to win games, and that’s part of it, but the talent’s not lacking in here. A ton of talent, a ton of really good guys, now it’s just putting it together over 162. I think it’s doable.”

Connor Wong, C

“We just got into a bad stretch at the wrong time. We were playing good baseball and hit a slump offensively and on the pitching side and it took us longer to get out of it than we wanted to. That’s something we’re obviously upset about but we have to learn from it and hopefully it makes us better in the future.”

Lucas Giolito, RHP

“I think that’s the way baseball goes sometimes. If you asked me what do you think is going to happen at the All-Star break I’d go oh we’re going to cruise into the playoffs. Not necessarily winning the division with how competitive the division is with the Yankees and Orioles, but we’ll have a Wild Card spot and cruise in and get that valuable playoff experience I think a lot of these young guys need. It’s hard to say, maybe after playing so well in the first half certain mental things can happen, maybe a little more pressure. Everything I read its like the team was written off before the season even started, so guys were like alright whatever we’re just going to go and play. So I think maintaining that identity of who cares what anyone thinks, let’s just go play and have fun, I think it’s a valuable learning experience for everyone in this locker room.”