The baseball season is in full swing (despite some games being postponed due to snowy conditions - yes, the weather has sucked this month!), and there's no denying that the Boston Red Sox are red-hot. While it's nice to see the Pittsburgh Pirates getting off to such a good start (every Puerto Rican has a little bit of Pirate in them), it's nice to see the American League East be led by someone other than the Yankees (oh my gosh, what's up with those Orioles? Sigh!). So what's the deal with the boys from Beantown? Let's take a closer look.
First of all, as of today (Friday), the Red Sox have won seven games in a row, including a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels (I guess that Ohtani guy isn't all that now, is he?). They're off to their best start in franchise history (16-2), and we all know that this is one of the oldest franchises in baseball. And this is despite the fact that they lost on Opening Day! Since then, the Red Sox have won 16 of 17 games, which is way more than my fourth-place Nationals can say! And when was the last time the Red Sox went 16-1? That would be in 2004, when the "Curse of the Bambino" was finally broken and they won their first World Series since 1918 (that was what I like to call the "Bloody Sock Series." My son was 5 months old at the time).
Why else is this team hot? Because they score a ton of runs, plain and simple. They lead MLB with 116 runs, with the next-best team at 106 (the Toronto Blue Jays - eh?). Not only that, but they have only allowed 50 runs in their first 18 games. I'm no math expert, but that's pretty low (less than 3 runs per game, I guess?). That means they're not only hitting well, but their pitching is pretty solid as well. Their starting pitchers have the lowest ERA in the Majors at 1.98, and their relievers have not allowed a run in their last 14 innings pitched. And you know what they say - good pitching stops good hitting - so they're doing all the right things.
What else? Their rookie manager is awesome. Alex Cora (fellow Puerto Rican) is only one of two managers who has won at least 16 of his first 18 games. The other one was Joe Morgan (also for the Red Sox), and since we all know that Joe Morgan is super-cool, then that makes Cora pretty special as well. And hey - I had a nice conversation with him when he played for the Nationals, and back then people were saying how he would make a good manager someday because he knows the game so well, so I guess everyone was right. There goes my theory about catchers making the best managers. Go Alex!
But are the Red Sox hitting? Hell yes! As a team, the Sox lead the Majors in batting average (.292), on-base percentage (.362), and slugging percentage (.496). They also lead in all sorts of other obscure statistics that I don't even understand, so yeah - they're doing very well offensively. Mookie Betts (who leads the Majors in batting average) hit three home runs in the opener against the Angels (the Sox hit six in that game), and they hit a total of 11 homers in that three-game series. Pretty impressive, if you ask me. So will the Red Sox stay hot? Probably. It may be a long season, and the Yankees might have their touted Judge/Stanton combination, but I think the Red Sox will take the AL East (the Yankees, by the way, are in THIRD place after the Blue Jays. In your face, Yankees fans!).
Will the Sox be even better once their veteran second baseman, Dustin Pedroia, returns from post-knee surgery rehab? Probably not. While the Washington Nationals are desperately missing their second baseman, Daniel Murphy, while HE is rehabbing after knee surgery, the Sox have not skipped a beat in Pedroia's absence. Eduardo Nuñez is doing just fine at second base. Not great, but fine, and he's probably playing better than Pedroia would if he were there now.
I will continue to root for my 9-10 Nationals (because I'm not a bandwagon fan, and Max Scherzer is still badass), but I will definitely be rooting for the Red Sox as well (despite me being a National League fan), especially since the Orioles don't seem to be going anywhere but downhill. And I spent 12 years in Massachusetts, so I can root for the Sox if I want to (notice I didn't mention Papi, Varitek, or Buckner, for that matter, in this post, because I'm trying to stay upbeat). So keep it up, Mookie and friends - you're definitely making this season exciting and fun to watch.
