Red Sox Wrapped: 2024 season in review

Since 2016, Spotify has presented users with “Spotify Wrapped,” a year-end data report on their individual listening habits – top songs, artists, genres, etc. – and the global context, all packaged together in a vibrantly colored visual display on the app. (For example, in 2024 this reporter listened to Spotify for 20,722 minutes – top 18% of listeners worldwide – and was in the top 0.5% of listeners to New England’s own Noah Kahan.)

Other companies have begun following in Spotify’s footsteps with their own versions of ‘Wrapped,’ including Apple Music, HBO’s Max, Tesla, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, even Dunkin’.

So before a new year and clean baseball slate arrive at midnight, here’s the 2024 Red Sox Wrapped:

Overview

With an 81-81 record, the Red Sox were MLB’s only .500 team this year. This was only the fourth .500 season in franchise history, and the first since 1985 (also ‘44 and ‘34).

The Red Sox’s total adjusted payroll this year was $188.54 million, 11th highest in the Majors. Their luxury tax payroll was $226.12 million. (The ’24 threshold was $237 million.)

According to Baseball Reference, Fenway Park welcomed 2,659,949 in paid attendance this year, with an average of 32,839 per game. While Boston saw a slight decrease from 2.67 million in 2023, they improved from No. 11 to No. 10 in the league rankings. (And remember, Fenway has the third-smallest capacity in the Majors.)

Only 10 teams had a younger offense than Boston’s this year (average age of 27.3). The Cleveland Guardians were the youngest (26.1) and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers’ were the oldest (30.3). Only nine teams had older pitching factions than Boston (29.5); the Miami Marlins were the youngest (27.0), the Texas Rangers the oldest (31.7).

The Red Sox were one of four teams with a 0.0 run differential. Their 4.6 runs-per-game was tied for seventh-best in the Majors, but their 4.6 average runs allowed was tied for sixth-worst.

The pitch clock can only do so much. On average Red Sox games took 2:42 to complete, making them the fourth-longest in the Majors behind the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Mets (tied), and Orioles, in that order.

However, thanks to the ghost-runner rule, which places a runner on second at the start of every extra inning, no Red Sox game lasted more than 12 innings. (May 14, July 4, July 22, Sept. 20)

Chart toppers

For the sixth 162-game season in a row, the Red Sox were MLB’s doubles leaders. They were also a top-10 team in runs, hits, triples, home runs, total bases, stolen bases, batting average, on-base and slugging percentages, and starting pitcher and position player WAR. (They ranked first in left-field WAR.)

Boston had three pitchers make at least 30 starts this year, tied for second-most in the Majors (Seattle had four). What’s more, Brayan Bello, Tanner Houck, and Kutter Crawford are the first homegrown Red Sox trio to start at least 30 games apiece since 1987.

However, the Red Sox also struck out third-most in the Majors behind Seattle and Colorado, and left the fifth-most men on base. And of all 30 teams, only Boston and Houston failed to hit a grand slam.

The Boston bullpen blew 31 saves in 71 opportunities. Only five teams had more opportunities, and only the Chicago White Sox – whose 121 losses are a new modern era record – blew more saves.

The Red Sox made an American League-leading 115 errors, but were saved from leading the entire pack by the Marlins, who made 117.

Most runs allowed/scored: 20 (Jul. 24)/17 (Apr. 27)

Walkoff wins/losses: 6/5

Come-from-behind victories: 36

Blown leads: 39

Top artists

Jarren Duran wasn’t just the best all-around player on the Red Sox, but one of the best in baseball. He led the Majors in doubles (48), plate appearances, and at-bats, tied for the lead in triples (14), had more hits and was worth the second-most defensive WAR of any outfielder. Duran also earned MVP honors in his first career All-Star Game by hitting a game-winning go-ahead home run.

Tanner Houck emerged as the top arm in the 2024 Red Sox rotation, posting a 3.12 ERA over a career-high 30 starts and earning his first All-Star honors. His 19 quality starts were tied for 11th in the Majors, and he threw the team’s only complete-game shutout.

Even with a shoulder ailment nagging him from spring training until season’s end, Rafael Devers looked like an All-Star for most of the season. He hit all 28 of his home runs and 33 of his 34 within the first 117 of his 138 total games. It was, however, the first time another player has led the club in home runs since 2019 (Tyler O’Neill hit 31).

Kutter Crawford’s 33 starts were tied for the most in baseball, his 183.2 innings were ninth in the AL, and he led the roster with 175 strikeouts. He also allowed an MLB-leading 34 home runs, the most by a Red Sox starter since Rick Porcello in 2017.

Top songs

1. Tanner Houck throws a ‘Maddux’ (a complete-game shutout on under than 100 pitches) against the Cleveland Guardians at Fenway Park. It’s the first ‘Maddux’ by a Sox pitcher since Clay Buchholz in August 2014, and the 12th in franchise history. It’s also the first complete-game shutout by a Red Sox pitcher in almost two years (Michael Wacha, June 6, 2022). (April 17)

2. Rafael Devers becomes the first player in franchise history to homer in six consecutive games. (May 15-20)

3. After not homering in his last 75 at-bats, Masataka Yoshida hits a game-tying two-run bomb in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox win the game in the 10th inning on a two-run homer by Ceddanne Rafaela, who’s playing his first career game in the Bronx. (July 5)

4. Triston Casas has his first career three-homer game, in an 8-1 home victory over the Minnesota Twins. (Sept. 22)

5. Kutter Crawford tosses seven scoreless innings in back-to-back starts against the Yankees and Royals. (Jul. 7 and 13)

Honorary mention: With the bases empty and a no-hitter going, Gerrit Cole throws up four fingers to signal an intentional-walk to Rafael Devers. Devers steals second, and the Red Sox tag Cole for seven earned runs, the most he’s allowed in a game since June 2022. (Sept. 14)

Baseball evolution

“You’ve changed. And so has your listening” is the tagline for Spotify’s new Wrapped segment, Musical Evolution, which shows how users’ listening habits changed over the months.

April was the Red Sox’s injury phase. In Game No. 8, Trevor Story suffered what was initially thought to be a season-ending left-shoulder subluxation. Garrett Whitlock didn’t pitch after April 16, a ‘freak’ rib cartilage on Apr. 20 kept Casas sidelined for four months, and Yoshida went down with a thumb injury on Apr. 28.

Despite those injuries, the Red Sox soared in June and July. They entered the All-Star break with an MLB-best 9-3 record in July, a season-best 10 games over .500, holding one of the three American League Wild Cards, and just 4.5 games out of first place in their division.

Second-half collapses have become something of an annual trend, and after a promising spring and early summer, August and September were a “Build Me Up Buttercup”-esque letdown once again. On Sept. 22, the Red Sox were a season-worst 14 games out of first place. Their trade deadline pitching reinforcements underperformed catastrophically, and the offensive production plummeted.

However, after back-to-back losing records and last-place finishes, the Red Sox finished third in the division. On the last day of the season, they managed to eke out an even record with a win over the Rays.

There’s much to look forward to in 2025. As Spotify Wrapped wraps up, “Thanks for coming along for the ride. Until we meet again.”

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