Red Sox off to Best Start in Franchise History
After a 9-0 win over the Las Angeles Angels, the Boston Red Sox now have a league best 15-2 record. Not only is this the best record in baseball currently, it is also the best start to a season in Red Sox franchise history. After Last season ended in another first round exit, Boston needed change. Then General Manager John Farrell was replaced by former Red Sox Alex Cora to lead the Sox in 2018. In addition to new coaching, the Red Sox needed more power. Their search was over when free agent slugger, J.D. Martinez signed with the team to a five-year deal. The Red Sox lineup looked sharper than ever despite Dustin Pedroia and Drew Pomeranz starting on the DL.
After the Red Sox blew a 4-0 lead in the 8th inning of opening day, it seemed like fans were in for another long year. However, the Sox went on to win 9 straight with two series wins against Tampa Bay and a sweep of a two game series with the Marlins. April 10th came as a big surprise when Boston dominated the rival Yankees 14-1. The Sox won the series versus the Yankees 2-1 and swept the Orioles before going west to face the other dominate team in the AL. Boston went on to win the first two games of the series in a combined 19-1 score.
When determining the cause of Boston's historic start, it is hard to single out any one area. Mookie Betts is leading the league with a .390 average. Hanley Ramirez, Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez have contributed 10 home-runs and 44 RBIs. The Red Sox lead the league in batting average (.287), RBIs (101), runs (108), SLG (.485), and OBP (.358). Boston's bats have been on fire, a total of four grand-slams so far and it's not even May yet. Also keep in mind that the Red Sox hit 0 grand-slams last season. Not only that but the Sox have the least amount of strikeouts (115) and are tied with the Diamondbacks for the least amount of errors, 4. Looking at pitching, Boston is second in the league in ERA (2.66), eighth in strikeouts (172) and third in WHIP (1.11).
Mookie is back to looking like a MVP candidate, David Price looks healthy again, Rick Porcello is pitching like his Cy Young season and the middle of the lineup looks deadlier than ever. Don't forget that the Sox are missing Xander Bogaerts, Pedroia and Pomeranz. Also remember that Andrew Benintendi has yet to hit a home-run and both catchers are batting a combined .202 average and 0 home-runs.
The Red Sox look to sweep the Angels tonight in Anaheim at 10:00 PM ET, before heading to Oakland to for a three game series. Tonight's pitching match up will be Eduardo Rodriguez (BOS) versus Nick Tropeano (LAA).