Good morning!
After a two-game teaser in Japan, the Major League Baseball season will begin in earnest on Thursday with a full slate of 15 games and an ESPN tripleheader.
Of regional interest, the Yankees will host Baltimore at 1 p.m., the Mets will play in Washington at 1:05 p.m., and the Red Sox will open in Seattle at 7:05 p.m.
The defending world champions have their entire lineup back including MVP Mookie Betts and RBI leader J.D. Martinez. The starting four in their pitching rotation— Rick Porcello, David Price, Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez— were a combined 58-23 last season and Nathan Eovaldi was an October hero with a 1.61 ERA in 22 innings.
The only noise to come out of the Hub this offseason was in December when manager Alex Cora flipped his one-two hitters in the lineup. Andrew Benintendi will bat lead-off this season and Betts will bat second.
The Red Sox are the proverbial well oiled machine skippered by a prescient manager with the Midas Touch.
Their only weaknesses are at second base, catching and relief pitching. Eduardo Nunez, Brock Holt and Dustin Pedroia are batting a collective .250 (17-for-68) with seven RBIs this spring, but Chad De La Guerra (.345) and Tzu-Wei Lin (.360) are waiting in the wings.
Catcher Christian Vazquez hopes his surgically repaired throwing arm will hold up like it did last year, Sandy Leon is striving to get his batting average up from .177 and Blake Swihart simply wants to make the team or be traded. Meanwhile, it’s anybody’s guess who will replace closer Craig Kimbrel and setup man Joe Kelly in the bullpen.
The Red Sox started 17-3 en route to 108 wins and the world championship last year. They could reprise that performance, but baseball and hurricanes chart their own courses. They open with 11 road games against the M’s, A’s and Diamondbacks while the Yankees play 15 of their first 21 games against the hapless O’s, Royals, White Sox and Tigers who combined had over 400 losses in 2018.
Despite the soft early schedule, Yankees might be spinning their wheels until several key players get healthy. Right-handed starter Luis Severino and setup man Dellin Betances both have sore shoulders, center fielder Aaron Hicks has a sore back, and CC Sabathia had knee surgery and a heart stent put in during the offseason. Sabathia also must serve a five-game suspension for his part in a bean brawl at the end of last season.
The Bronx Bombers added Giancarlo Stanton to their lineup last season thinking he would power them to the top of the AL East. Stanton wound up hitting 21 fewer home runs and driving in 32 fewer runs in pinstripes than he did his previous season in Miami. He batted a lukewarm .266 with 211 strikeouts, and Yankee fans remember him whiffing with two runners on base in their 4-3 loss to the Red Sox in the ALDS playoff clincher.
The Yankees tanked midseason, going from tied for first place on July 1 to trailing by 10 games in early August, and they probably regret taking themselves out of the Bryce Harper/Manny Machado sweepstakes by signing Stanton.
They acquired pitcher James Paxton from Seattle, and though the 6-4, 235-pound southpaw has a career 41-26 record, Red Sox hitters are batting .291 against him.
Luke Voit and Greg Bird have both batted over .300 this spring vying for the first base job, but Troy Tulowitzki has yet to prove he can fill in at shortstop until Didi Gregorius gets healthy. Tulo’s batting .241 with 12 K’s in 29 at-bats this spring after missing the entire 2018 season with knee surgery.
Perhaps the race that never was in 2018 will materialize this season, but for now the Red Sox are the team to beat in the American League.
THE PICKS
American League
Division Champs: Red Sox, Indians, Astros
Wild Card: Rays over Yankees
ALDS: Red Sox over Rays; Astros over Indians
ALCS: Red Sox over Astros
National League
Division Champs: Phillies, Cardinals, Rockies
Wild Card: Nationals over Mets
NLDS: Phils over Nationals; Rockies over Cardinals
NLCS: Rockies over Phillies
WORLD SERIES
Rockies over Red Sox in seven games
BOBBLEHEAD MANIA
Despite their championship season, 22,000 fewer fans went through the turnstiles at Fenway Park in 2018. Consequently the Red Sox have jumped onto the promotion bandwagon, starting with a commemorative 2018 World Series Ring giveaway on April 11 against Toronto.
Mookie MVP Hat Night will be April 30, J.D. Martinez “Home Run Counter” bobblehead night is May 14, and 2013 World Series rings will be away on May 28.
The promotions will continue with 2007 World Series rings on June 11 and Alex Cora “World Series” bobblehead night on June 25.
After the All-Star break, there will be a Mookie Betts “Time to Party” bobblehead night on July 16 and a World Series Champion tote bag giveaway on July 30.
A week later is Brock Holt “ALDS Hitting for the Cycle” bobblehead night, followed by a 2004 World Series ring giveaway (Aug. 20), an Andrew Benintendi “ALCS Catch” bobblehead night (Sept. 3) and a Nathan Eovaldi “World Series” bobblehead night (Sept. 17).
The only promotion they didn’t think of was a 1918 “Wait ’Til Next Year” ring giveaway.
The Yankees are having bobblehead nights for Bernie Williams, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres and David Cone; the Mets are doing likewise for Todd Frazier, Jacob DeGrom, Noah Syndegaard and Brandon Nimmo.
The Mets are also having Obi Wan Kenobi and Mr. Met on the Moon bobble head nights and are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their 1969 World Series championship by giving away replica jerseys, World Series rings and pennants on June 28-30 when the Braves are in town.
New Hampshire Governor John Sununu is fast tracking a gambling bill that would put “betting lounges” in 10 locales throughout the state. Franklin County bettors will be able to go to New Hampshire, open a betting app and bet the Red Sox without leaving their car.
SPRING STATS, ETC: Phils first baseman Carlos Santana to the New York Post’s Peter Botte on smashing a TV after he found two teammates playing video games during a loss last September: “I’ve never seen that in my life during a game— playing video. I feel like they weren’t respecting their teammates.” … At this writing, the LA Angels had committed 40 errors and the pitching staff had thrown 38 wild pitches. … The Yankees moved past the Brewers for most home runs (45) and the Red Sox are tied with Arizona for the second-fewest (20). … The Orioles showed they’re capable of losing another 115 games, muffing two double plays and allowing a run to score on a wild pitch during Tuesday’s loss to the Red Sox. … “You know what’s killing the Red Sox?” said Sirius XM’s CJ Nitkowski. “The Pablo Sandoval deal.” The Red Sox still owe Sandoval $23 million according to baseball-reference.com, preventing them from signing Craig Kimbrel. … Former Red Sox third baseman Travis Shaw has struck out 22 times this spring. … Phillies second baseman Sean Rodriguez has one hit in 39 at bats. … Yoan Moncada (the main player in the trade for Chris Sale) is batting .333 with two doubles, two home runs and seven RBIs for the Chisox. … During Tuesday’s Yankees game, Tito Martinez recalled the old regime when the Yankees played the Red Sox in spring training, “Mr. Steinbrenner would send our entire starting lineup to Fort Myers.” … A front row seat atop the Green Monster on Opening Day against the Blue Jays costs $950 plus fees. … Putting a mike on a player in the outfield (like Houston’s Josh Reddick on Wednesday) and expecting him to say something witty is like putting a glove on the announcer and expecting him catch a foul ball. … Lookalikes: Tampa Bay pitcher Hunter Wood and the late Frank Zappa.
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached by email at sports@recorder.com.