Boston Red Sox: Why the Past 2 Seasons Have Put Them Back 5 Years or More

How the mighty Boston Red Sox have fallen over the past two seasons is really surprising, since they had the one of the best records in baseball until the 7-20 month of September in 2011 that put them out of the playoff hunt.

The 2012 season has been even worse, as the team is now 63-75 and is a good 14.5 games out of the Wild Card hunt.

Why exactly did this happen?

No one really knows the full answer, but there are a couple guesses.

For instance, some blame the pitching staff for the falters in September. Everyone from Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and even Daniel Bard had an awful September in 2011.

Others blame the fact of the chicken-gate that apparently happened all season long with the pitchers on their off days.

And still others think that the players took advantage of Terry Francona and just gave up the last month because they could get away with it.

My guess?

It is a combination of those three things, plus the Tampa Bay Rays had a hot month of September. Plus, there is the fact that for some reason the offense could not get the job done in the clutch that month.

But how can the Red Sox be so far gone over the past two seasons and when can we expect a return to glory?

Luckily for the Sox, the free salary room thanks to the deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers is something that will help the team faster than if nothing happened before the end of the season.

Still, Ben Cherington wants to use more talent from the farm system and that takes several years to develop into something that could really help this team.

The Jackie Bradleys of the world are still a couple years from being called up, and that may not bode well for the Red Sox's chances of making the postseason over the next few seasons.

Sure, the Red Sox could sneak into a Wild Card spot, but the great teams—like 2004 and 2007—won't be back until around 2017. Unless an ace-like pitcher is traded for before that season.