Kevin McNamara: Are you ready for a Red Sox repeat?

The praise arrives from all corners of the baseball world. Words like "repeat" and "dynasty" accompany the Boston Red Sox as they are set to open this 2019 season Thursday night in Seattle.

The reigning World Series champions return largely intact and are, indeed, loaded. The Sox have answers at every position, a returning MVP in Mookie Betts, one of the game's top power hitters in J.D. Martinez, starting pitching that runs four-deep and the type of depth that only a baseball-best [...]

The praise arrives from all corners of the baseball world. Words like "repeat" and "dynasty" accompany the Boston Red Sox as they are set to open this 2019 season Thursday night in Seattle.

The reigning World Series champions return largely intact and are, indeed, loaded. The Sox have answers at every position, a returning MVP in Mookie Betts, one of the game's top power hitters in J.D. Martinez, starting pitching that runs four-deep and the type of depth that only a baseball-best $225-million payroll can bring.

So what can go wrong?

The Red Sox are poised to become the first repeat World Series champion since the three-peat Yankees of 1998-99-00, but this unpredictable sport that’s forever New England’s summer soap opera has a way of throwing us curve balls.

Life can go wrong. Expectations, both collective and individual, can come up short. So on a day when hope springs eternal and Red Sox fans should own the confidence of a defending champion, we are here to throw up a few caution flags.

*More career years? Betts and Martinez formed the most fearsome twosome in the American League last year. They combined for 75 home runs and 210 RBI to lead an offense that blew away the rest of baseball with 876 runs, or 5.4 per game.

Those are numbers that will be tough to top. Martinez flirted with the Triple Crown for a spell, while Betts looked like the best all-around outfielder the Red Sox have seen in a generation.

* Speaking of Betts, it’s fair to wonder if the 26-year old will become distracted by the swirl of conjecture about his future. Betts doubled his salary to $20 million in arbitration but won’t hit free agency until 2021. The Sox have offered him a monster contract extension but apparently not in the neighborhood of recent deals like Mike Trout’s $426.5 million and the $330 million Bryce Harper grabbed in free agency to jump to the Phillies.

“I just want to be treated fairly. Everybody does,” Betts said this spring. “I don’t think that’s tough to ask.”

Betts has been a loyal soldier through his career in Boston but he’s apparently willing to risk a $300 million deal in search of a spin on the open market after next season. Here’s hoping he doesn’t get injured along the way.

* The Red Sox awarded starter Chris Sale a five-year $145-million extension last week, but they have several stars entering their contract years. This can be problematic, if not disruptive, especially since owner John Henry admitted that the team won’t be able to pay up for everyone looking for a bonanza. Martinez can opt out of his deal next fall, while Xander Bogaerts and Rick Porcello can test the market as free agents.

* Who’s the closer? Craig Kimbrel recorded 42 of the team’s 46 saves last season but the Sox chose not to resign him. They’ve replaced him with, well, nobody. Their plan is apparently a "closer-by-committee" look that may sound good in an analytics meeting but has never paid off for a big winner. Why the Sox didn’t chase lefty Zack Britton for only $13 million a season and let him resign with the Yankees is a mystery.

* Maybe the single biggest factor in Boston’s favor is the state of the American League. Quite simply, it stinks.

Once again the only two teams who should rate with the Sox are the Yankees and the Astros. The Yankees are always dangerous and a few offseason moves not only fortified a few key positions (like the bullpen) but boosted their salary pool back over $200 million, where it belongs.

The problem in the Bronx is health. It’s not even April and supposed ace Luis Severino is dealing with a rotator cuff problem. He could miss the first two months. Reliever Dellin Betances (shoulder) and outfielder Aaron Hicks (back) won’t be with the team when it heads north and no one can put a date on the return of the team’s most important position player, star shortstop Didi Gregorious (Tommy John surgery).

As for the 'Stros, they had their shot at the Red Sox last October but lost three straight at home. Any team with talent like Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve is dangerous but the pressure will be on the Astros if they see the Sox again in the fall.

* Finally, it was easy to root for first-year manager Alex Cora last season. The guy is classy, beloved in the clubhouse and treats the media like gold. He also had the Midas Touch, seemingly pressing the right buttons from April to October. Who else would watch Brock Holt hit for the cycle one night at Yankee Stadium and sit him the next? Who else would shift starter Nathan Eovaldi to the playoff bullpen and watch him blow hitters away? Who else would hit the jackpot with his first-base platoon and watch Mitch Moreland belt a pinch-hit home run and Steve Pearce smack three round-trippers in the World Series?

That was the 2018 Red Sox, a team that burst out to a 17-2 start and never stopped winning until it set a franchise record of 108 victories and breezed through the playoffs to a fourth World Series title in 15 seasons.

Can things run as smoothly in 2019? Will Mookie keep mashing, Rafael Devers keep progressing and David Price keep smiling?

Get ready for a repeat.