The Boston Red Sox were swept in the American League Wild Card Series 2-0 by the New York Yankees. While the Yankees were expected to win the series, it seemed as if it would be more competitive overall. Instead, New York earned 9-0 and 9-2 victories. The Red Sox's starting pitching performed well, but every other position group did not play up to expectations for the most part.

Without further ado, here are the Red Sox most to blame for the team's embarrassing AL Wild Card Series loss to the Yankees.

Adley Rutschman

The entire offense did not play well overall. However, Rutschman was arguably the top trade deadline acquisition this season aside from the Los Angeles Dodgers' Tarik Skubal deal. Boston wanted more offense from the catcher position which led to the trade.

Rutschman, while hitting in the middle of the lineup, went 1-8 with no extra base hits in the series. He struck out three times and did not record any walks. Rutschman also had some sloppy moments on defense in the series.

Garrett Crochet entered Game 2 in the 6th inning a 2-0 game after not pitching in a contest since April. Crochet struck out the first batter he faced but a dropped third strike allowed the hitter to reach base. While Rutschman did block the pitch in the dirt, the ball got away from him which led to the runner being safe.

An errant throw on a stolen base attempt later in the inning did not help matters. The wheels ended up falling off for Crochet, who surrendered four runs without recording a single out.

Rutschman's defensive woes and lack of offensive output makes him among the most to blame for this series defeat.

Ceddanne Rafaela

Rafaela is one of the better hitters on this Red Sox team. In his seven at-bats in the series, however, he did not record a hit. He also did not strike out, but Rafael's lack of offensive production was far from ideal. As mentioned, the Red Sox's entire lineup struggled for the most part, but Rafaela's failure to record a hit stands out given his potential as a star player.

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One specific moment hurt the Red Sox in Game 1. New York held a 2-0 lead in the 7th inning with a runner on first base and one out as Rafaela stepped to the plate. The moment represented a possible rally for the Sox as Boston attempted to get back into the game. Instead, Rafaela grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The Yankees went on to score two runs in the bottom half of the 7th and five more in the 8th inning, leading to their 9-1 Game 1 win.

Red Sox bullpen

Selecting one or two relievers was too difficult here. The Red Sox's bullpen was underwhelming overall aside from Aroldis Chapman and Greg Weissert. They both recorded scoreless innings of work.

It's difficult to be too hard on Crochet since he hadn't pitched since April. Rutschman's sloppy defense did not help him. Still, Crochet — who was working out of the bullpen in his appearance — did surrender four runs without recording an out. It was a forgettable performance for Crochet.

Wyatt Olds (3 ER in 1.1 IP), Garrett Whitlock (3 ER in 1.1 IP), Brayan Bello (2 ER in 0.2 IP), Alec Gamboa (2 ER in 0.2 IP) and Erik Miller (1 ER in 0.2 IP) all struggled. It was a horrendous overall bullpen effort by the Red Sox. Their performance stings even more considering the fact that starting pitchers Payton Tolle and Sonny Gray allowed a combined amount of just three runs in their starts.

The Red Sox's lack of offense will be a talking point, but the bullpen did not do much to keep them in either game in the series.