The Red Sox Offense Is Out Of Control

Following two straight last place finishes expectations were up in the air for the Boston Red Sox entering 2016. The team made two huge offseason additions by signing David Price and trading for Craig Kimbrel. While these moves were aimed at strengthening the team's pitching staff, it has been the offense that has carried the team to a 22-13 start.

Currently the Red Sox lead all of MLB in runs, hits, doubles, total bases, batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, and stolen base percentage. Six of the top 17 batting average leaders in the American League play for Boston. They are averaging 5.91 runs per game, which includes an absurd average of 6.79 runs per game at Fenway. On their current home stand the Sox have scored a combined 51 runs in the past four games.

In addition to hitting on all cylinders the Sox are stealing bases both aggressively and efficiently. Currently they are second in baseball with 27 steals while swiping them at a ridiculous 93.10% success rate. For comparison the next highest rate is 79.31%. This is a major improvement from 2015 when the Sox finished 19th in the league in steals.

The team is getting contributions from everyone but what is legitimately scary is their leadoff hitter Mookie Betts has yet to fully heat up. He is currently slashing .253/.293/.430, which is well below 2015's .291/.341/.479 triple slash line. Betts started slow last year as well so should be expected to heat up soon once again.

The biggest surprise for Boston has been Jackie Bradley Jr. Bradley is in the midst of a 18 game hitting streak where he is hitting .412 with six home runs, five doubles, three triples, 25 RBI and a 1.290 OPS. He has 14 RBI in the past four games alone. However, as a career .230 hitter it remains to be seen if he can be a valuable offensive player for the duration of the season.

If the season ended today the 2016 Red Sox average of 5.91 runs per game would rank fourth all time for Boston behind only the 1950 (6.67), 1938 (6.01), and 2003 (5.93) teams. With Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Hanley Ramirez, and Xander Bogaerts all having excellent seasons health seems to be the only factor that could prevent this offense from becoming historic.