What did the 2018 Red Sox slug, and where did they slug it?

Those champion Sawx remain under investigation by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred for illegal sign-stealing — the very crime of which their immediate predecessors, the 2017 Astros, have been convicted.

Alex Cora, the manager of the former team and the bench coach of the latter, stands as the common thread. Manfred identified him as a mastermind of the ’17 Astros’ scheme, and a suspension of at least one year appears quite likely. Cora and the Red Sox parted ways the day after Manfred released his report on those Astros.

The Red Sox owners and All-Star J.D. Martinez have intimated that their team will come out clean, and at the surface level, you can understand why. For starters, no one has put his name on these allegations as did ’17 Astros pitcher Mike Fiers, nor has a smoking-gun video emerged, as did those Astros’ trash can-banging against the White Sox and Danny Farquhar (courtesy of social-media detective @Jomboy_).

What about the statistics? The Athletic conducted a deep dive into the ’17 Astros that revealed how dramatically — and downright historically — that team improved at making contact. Most notably, their reduction in team strikeouts by 365 marked the most, by far, in the live-ball era (starting in 1920). And that reduction resulted primarily from an improvement at home (down by 242 strikeouts, compared to 123 on the road), where the sign-stealing scheme was fully operational.

So let’s turn to the Red Sox. They actually struck out more in 2018 (1,253) than in 2017 (1,224). They nevertheless became a superior offensive team, increasing their slash line from .258/.329/.407 to .268/.339/.453. They slugged .482 at home, compared to .412 in ’17, and .426 on the road (.401 in ’17).

The ’18 Red Sox, like the ’17 Astros (and the ’18 Astros, too) hit tremendously well with runners in scoring position, interesting since the public allegations are that the ’18 Bosox’s scheme operated only with runners on base. As per the Elias Sports Bureau, with runners in scoring position, the ’18 Red Sox slashed .300/.385/.524 at home and .274/.372/.453 on the road. In the same situations, the ’17 Red Sox recorded a .287/.375/.430 slash line at home and .266/.354/.442 on the road.

These statistical splits don’t scream anywhere as loudly as the ’16-17 Astros, and remember that Boston added Martinez for the ’18 season, quite a boon regardless of any illicit shenanigans. We’ll find out shortly whether these numbers, combined with whatever else the investigators can find, speak loudly enough to result in a tarnishing of that crown.