Spring has sprung, the Red Sox are ready to roll and it’s time to play baseball.
Yes, it’s really Opening Day. It may not always feel or look like spring in these parts but Chris Sale will indeed take the mound Thursday afternoon for the Red Sox at Tampa Bay. Thoughts of warm summer nights at Fenway Park can finally creep into fans' minds and hearts.
Those same fans can cross their fingers that temperatures will break 50 degrees when the Sox come home and open at [...]
Spring has sprung, the Red Sox are ready to roll and it’s time to play baseball.
Yes, it’s really Opening Day. It may not always feel or look like spring in these parts but Chris Sale will indeed take the mound Thursday afternoon for the Red Sox at Tampa Bay. Thoughts of warm summer nights at Fenway Park can finally creep into fans' minds and hearts.
Those same fans can cross their fingers that temperatures will break 50 degrees when the Sox come home and open at Fenway next Thursday. After three more games against the Rays, the real season kicks in. That’s when the New York Yankees — the true Bronx Bombers — come to the Fens for a three-game set starting on April 10.
It will be the first of 19 meetings between the two clubs and this season should be a fun one for the ancient rivals. Both teams always have a single goal — winning the World Series — and both are among the handful of favorites to contend for the title this year.
The Red Sox won 93 games and topped the American League East race in each of the last two seasons. B after quick playoff dismissals, all that winning only led to a pink slip for manager John Farrell. The Sox replaced him with Alex Cora, a former infielder with zero managerial experience but a penchant for being a "player’s manager."
The only roster addition the Red Sox made didn’t come until the start of spring training but it was a big, expensive, one. After finishing last in the American League in home runs, Boston will pay $110 million over the next five seasons to add slugger J.D. Martinez to its roster. The 30-year old cracked 45 homers a year ago and should help jump-start a few Sox teammates whose power outages in 2017 were downright puzzling.
The same can’t be said for the Yankees. While the Red Sox bleed opposing pitching with singles and doubles, the Yanks swing for the fences. Blessed with dynamic, young sluggers in Aaron Judge (52 homers in 2017), Gary Sanchez (33) and Didi Gregorius (25), the Yankees have the rosiest future of any team in the A.L. Boston may have won two more games than New York in 2017 but, by the end of the playoffs, hardball enthusiasts couldn’t stop talking about the "Baby Bombers."
New York lost the ALCS in seven games to the eventual champion Houston Astros, but that run only served to whet the appetite of a New York City fandom that can’t wait for this season to begin. The Yankees haven’t won a World Series in nine years and can boast of only one championship in the last 17 — a drought that the Steinbrenners clearly want to see end.
After grooming Judge and Sanchez through their farm system, the Yankees upped the ante in December when they flipped even more talented prospects to Miami for the game’s premier power hitter, Giancarlo Stanton. The 28-year old Californian is known for his Ruthian moon shots that made him a two-time Most Valuable Player with the Marlins.
Stanton cracked 59 homers last season, the most in the majors in the last 16 years. This year he’ll be lined up next to Judge and form a one-two punch that the New York tabloids are feverishly comparing to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Those two legends combined for 115 homers in the glorious season of 1961, but that total will be in danger thanks to the powerful swings of Stanton (who stands 6-foot-6) and Judge (6-7) and the new Yankee Stadium’s short porches in left and right field.
The Red Sox have the highest payroll in the game but haven’t played like the best team in baseball for awhile now. They’ve won one playoff game since rolling through the 2013 World Series, and they and drew attention last summer more because of the exploits of petulant pitcher David Price and the under-performance of Xander Bogaerts and Hanley Ramirez than the superb debut season of the fire-balling Sale or the explosive promise of 21-year old Rafael Devers.
Boston’s front office is hoping that ditching Farrell for the 42-year-old Cora makes this team more likeable. In spring training, Cora insisted players call him "Alex" or "A.C." but it will be interesting to see how a more relaxed clubhouse responds to a losing streak or the unpredictable funk of Price and Ramirez.
One thing that never changes at Fenway are oversized expectations. As usual, only a World Series title will truly satiate the masses. That’s the same deal in the Bronx. Both teams boast young stars, pitching depth and sluggers ready to swing for the fences.
Spring has indeed sprung. It’s Opening Day and baseball is back.
PLAY BALL!
The Red Sox open their 118th season Thursday, and are 58-58-1 all-time on Opening Day.
WHEN/WHERE: 4 p.m. vs. Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
STARTING PITCHERS: Chris Sale, Red Sox (17-8, 2.90 ERA in 2017); Chris Archer, Rays (10-12, 4.07)
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN: NESN, WEEI-FM