Red Sox Sputtering to Start the Season

Red Sox Sputtering to Start the Season

Heading into play Thursday night, the Red Sox are 11-9 and still hold the third spot in the A.L. East, trailing both the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees.

Thus far, the Red Sox are 2-3 against the Baltimore Orioles, and upcoming is a crucial four game series the Red Sox will be hosting against said Orioles, and if they do not come up with a series win, the Red Sox will have some catching up to do.

The Red Sox are the more talented team, but manager Buck Showalter has always been able to get the most out of his group, while injuries and inconsistent play has mauled the Red Sox for the early part of the season.

Teams have only played about 15% of their games thus far, but this same team last season did not fare well in the middle of the season, particularly June, when they went a measly 10-16. This Red Sox squad has to start winning soon to build up some confidence, and to leave some leeway in case they do go through some rough stretches in the doggy days of June and July.

Luckily for the Red Sox, in the month of May, they do not face many quality opponents, similar to last season. They start off the series with the aforementioned four game home series against the Orioles, but go on to face teams such as the Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox. The Red Sox should come out of all of those with series wins

Although the Red Sox have been sputtering to begin the 2017 campaign, most of that can be attributed to the early flu they caught and various injuries to key players on the roster. As they get healthier and start finding their mojo, this Red Sox team will start looking like the one that many pegged to rival Cleveland for American League supremacy.