NEW YORK — For the Red Sox, the playoffs had barely begun by the time the Yankees delivered a sledgehammer of shattering finality.
In two games, the Sox were outscored, 18-2, in the most lopsided Wild Card Series in the brief history of the best-of-three format. Their 9-0 blanking at the hands of Cam Schlittler and the Yankees in Game 1 was followed by a 9-2 slobberknocking in Game 2 that spelled the end of the series and the season.
How to make sense of the shellacking?
“It’s a good question. It’s different for everybody,” said Trevor Story. “You work your [butt] off all year, all offseason, and you get to this point, and this is what we play for. You play to win in the postseason, and to have it end [in Yankee Stadium] two times in a row is tough, and everyone will process that differently.”
For some players, there was appreciation of the zombie-like midyear return from the dead, a 15-game winning streak and 32-5 stretch unlike anything that most of the players had experienced. Yet the traces of those summer memories were clouded by the thrashing they’d just endured.
The Sox hit .117 (7 for 60) — the second-worst average by any team in any playoff series. Their .159 on-base percentage was the lowest. They barely had any runners in scoring position in the two games, and when they did, they literally did nothing, going 0 for 3 with nary a base runner.
Willson Contreras was in little mood for silver linings. At 34, he is their elder statesperson among position players. He was the team’s best hitter this year, hitting .275/.386/.516 with career highs in on-base and home runs (27). He is an influential clubhouse voice.
Despite playing through a number of injuries, he was their one source of offense Wednesday, going 2 for 2 with a homer and a pair of walks. His four times on base doubled the combined total of the rest of the lineup.
His view of the series?
“We didn’t play good at all,” he said. “We didn’t pitch. We didn’t hit. And when you don’t have those two it’s tough to win. [The Yankees] played better than us.”
For Contreras, that straightforward analysis was the beginning of a critique of the Red Sox organization that sharpened as he continued.
“I’m really proud of this group, [but] whatever we did in the past stays in the past,” he said. “We have to get better for next year. In every aspect of the game, we have to get better. That’s the bottom line.”
How did an offense that was tops in the American League for a 60-game stretch (5.18 runs per game from June 25 through Aug. 31) regress to early-season form by staggering through September (an MLB-worst 2.96 runs per game) and then collapse in a brief postseason?
“That’s a good question. I’m not going to answer it because I don’t want to give my honest answer,” said Contreras. “We got eliminated. That’s the bottom line. … We didn’t produce. We didn’t execute any part of the game. And that’s why we [lost].
“I know we had a really good stretch. I’m really proud of what we did in the past, like I said. We were able to turn the season around for sure, 100 percent, but that’s not enough. It’s not enough.”
Contreras suggested both specific areas in which the Sox needed to improve — for instance, controlling the running game of opponents — but also macro-level adjustments.
“It’s not enough when you have talent or you have data or you have computers telling you what to do. This is baseball and the data is here to help us,” he said. “But at the end of the day, you’re going to need experience and veteran guys to win games. There’s a lot of stuff that I would love to say but I’ll stay [with] that.”
Does Contreras believe the Sox are too data-reliant?
“If you watch the game,” Contreras responded incredulously, implying that the answer was obvious. “If you watch the game.”
Given that view, is there anything Contreras or other players can do to encourage the organization to evolve in its approach?
“I don’t know. I cannot make decisions,” he said. “The only thing that I can control is my part of the game. … Making decisions about data, about all that stuff, we cannot do anything about it. Like I said, it’s here to help us. But at the end of the day, it’s not about data. It’s about executing the game plan.
“At the end of the day, we can talk, we can share ideas. I’m not making decisions and we’re not going to make decisions. We are employees. We get paid to play baseball, and we play to be out there on the field, to perform. That’s the bottom line.”
Despite his misgivings, Contreras — who had to waive his no-trade protection in order to complete his December trade from the Cardinals to the Red Sox — suggested he is content in the organization.
“I really had fun,” said Contreras, whose contract has one more guaranteed year, plus a team option for 2028. “This [was] my first season in Boston. I didn’t have any expectations coming up here when I got traded. I didn’t want to put anything in my mind.
“[But] I’m really proud [with] what I was able to do during the whole season. But also, I’m proud of the team that we’ve got here and proud of everybody.”
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.