Historically it seems the Sox always seem to be short in a vital area and it always seems to bite them in the ass. In the early 90's it was another good hitter for the lineup behind Thomas and Ventura. The players, like McDowell told me, though McGuire was coming, but then Frank wouldn't move to DH and that went out the window. In 96 it was a bad bullpen and the Sox did nothing at the deadline which saw them blow an almost certain wild card spot. Then in the early 2000's, 2003 comes to mind, it was the lack of a decent backend starter. I still remember Kenny Williams saying the price for Kenny Rogers was "too high." Rogers went to the Twins and helped them win the division. In 2020 as mentioned it was little starting pitching. As other have said it seems to be happening again.