2011: Greatest Red Sox Offense Of All-Time?

Is this year's lineup the greatest hitting Red Sox team of all time?

That seems impossible -- ridiculous, even -- considering the run-scoring machines of 2003-05, the tater mashers of 1977-78, and the powerhouses of the late 40s/early 50s, but ...

SoSHer Ananti notes that the Red Sox have scored 5.36 runs/game (482 runs in 90 games). [All stats below are as of the All-Star break.]

Which doesn't sound that special until you compare it to the current AL average of 4.28 runs/game. That is 25.1% better than the league average. Which would be the 2nd highest in Red Sox history, behind only the 1950 team that scored 1027 runs.

1950   132.32%
2011   125.13%
1946   125.05%
1948   123.97%
1949   123.78%
1903   122.47%
2003   122.06%
1967   120.45%
1972   118.99%

The decrease in run-scoring across both leagues is important to remember. According to Baseball Reference, the AL R/G average is 4.29 - down sharply from full-season averages of 4.82 in 2009 and 4.45 in 2010.

In fact, there are only four AL teams with R/G higher than 4.5 (a rate that was well below average only two seasons ago): Boston 5.36, New York 5.17, Texas 4.97, and Toronto 4.63.

SoSHer Rough Carrigan:

If you go by OPS+, admittedly an imprecise measure but one which at least takes park factors into account, this year's team has a *better* offense than 1950's. Fenway was outrageously pro offense in 1950 with a park factor of 115. Here are the OPS+'s of some famous Sox teams. A lot of them had great run totals but Fenway was so much better than an average hitting park that the adjustment brings them back down to earth:

Year Team OPS+
1946   106
1949   105
1950   107
1967   103
1975   107
1977   108
1978   103
1986   106
2003   118
2004   110
2011   119

The top five batters in the Red Sox lineup are all in the Top 10 in AL OBP!

Ellsbury   .377  10th in AL
Pedroia    .395   5th in AL
Gonzalez   .414   3rd in AL
Youkilis   .399   4th in AL
Ortiz      .391   7th in AL

Roughly one-third of the lineup is about league average (.321): Varitek .333, Drew .331, Scutaro .328, Saltalamacchia .320. The rest are always on base.

The team's OBP is .354, a full 14 points higher than the #2 team, the Yankees. It has been more than 20 years since a team led the AL in OBP by that great a margin.

At the break, the Red Sox were #1 in the AL in runs, hits, doubles, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, total bases. They were #2 in triples and #3 in home runs.

Terry Francona:

We haven't clicked on all cylinders yet, which is kind of exciting to me. ... We’re not done yet. Not even close.