NEW YORK -- It's dangerous -- irresponsible, even -- to read too much into a three-game series. It's a brief snapshot in time and not always guaranteed to provide an accurate view of a team's strengths and/or weaknesses.
Then again, those elements tend to get magnified, even in a short sample size, and provide insight as to why a team succeeded or failed.
For the Red Sox, whose season came to an abrupt end Thursday night in Game 3 of their wild card series with the New York Yankees, that was especially true. Over 27 innings and across three nights in the Bronx, the Red Sox' short-comings were on full display.
Over a 162-game schedule, some flaws can be hidden. But against better teams and playing for higher stakes, they ultimately reveal themselves.
So it was in the 4-0 loss to the Yankees which sent the Red Sox into hibernation for the winter.
The Sox led all of Major League Baseball in errors during the season, and that sort of deficiency doesn't stay hidden for long. Sure enough, when the Yankees scored all four of their runs in the fourth inning, they were greatly aided by the Red Sox trademark defensive sloppiness.
First, a ball fell in between outfielders Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu. The ball had an expected batting average of 0.50, reinforcing the notion that it absolutely should have been caught by someone.
Next came a couple of ground balls that snaked through the infield -- not hit particularly hard, but out of the reach of two middle infielders -- Trevor Story and Romy Gonzalez -- whose range is decidedly average at best.
Finally, there was a chopped ground ball that clanged off the glove of Nathaniel Lowe and deflected into right field, scoring two runs.
"We didn't play defense," conceded Alex Cora. "The pop-up, drops, there's a double, and there's a walk, and they didn't hit the ball hard, but they found holes. It just happened fast."
(They didn't play defense, or play it well enough, in Game 2 either, with Jarren Duran's costly misplay leading to a run in a one-run loss).
To give you an indication of how the night went, Red Sox rookie starter Connelly Early, who surely deserved a better fate, posted an ERA of 7.36 for the night but a FIP of just 0.68. Anytime you see a discrepancy that vast, it screams that the pitcher was shortchanged in a big way by his defense.
Then there was the rather listless offense, which amassed five hits -- every one of them singles. Much of that can be attributed to the pitching of New York rookie Cam Schlittler, who was masterful.
But it also exposed the lack of sock in the Boston lineup. For the most part, when this Red Sox team fell behind by multiple runs, it was virtually incapable of catching the opponent. Home runs were the exception to the rule.
Over three games in a hitter-friendly ballpark like Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox managed just one homer. Fittingly, that was a solo shot -- as so many of the team's homers were in the final month or so.
It's possible that Craig Breslow was correct when he said in the immediate aftermath of the Rafael Devers trade that the Sox would win more games without him than they would have with him in the lineup.
But at some point, the Red Sox need to replace the power they lost when they unloaded Devers. They don't need to be homer-dependent -- as many have said about the Yankees in recent years -- but they need more of a long ball threat.
Perhaps that can be found in free agency or via a trade. But the Red Sox need to go into 2026 with the ability to have more big innings and feature more power threats. It's imperative in the modern game to have a lineup featuring several players with power. As it was, the Red Sox had exactly two players who hit more than 20 homers for them this past season: Trevor Story (25) and Wilyer Abreu (22).
Finally, the Red Sox' pitching staff waged a battle all season long with injuries and ultimately lost the war. By the end of the season, they were down more than a half-dozen potential starters, leaving them thin in the rotation.
It's no knock on Early to suggest that someone with only four major league starts should not have been pitching in an elimination game. Early is poised and talented and will only improve in the near future, but erred in not collecting more starting pitching depth over the course of the season.
The front office has to prepare for the worst next year and accept that it's not longer enough to plan on needing nine or 10 starters over the course of a season. Often, more are needed and the Sox need to plan accordingly.
In the end, the gap between the Red Sox and Yankees wasn't sizable. They were separated by five games during the season, and on the field in a best-of-three series, the margin was even smaller. The first two games were in the balance in the ninth inning.
But the Yankees won and advanced because the Red Sox had too many shortcomings that revealed themselves at the worst possible time -- in a short series, with little time left to overcome them.