What we learned from Red Sox' successful 10-game road trip to start season
BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox are 7-3. We need not ready the duck boats for a parade down Boylston Street, but it's quite the performance from a team that had very few believers entering Opening Day.
The 7-3 start comes after consecutive 5-5 starts to the season for Boston. The 2021 Red Sox -- who made the playoffs as a 92-win Wild Card team and reached the ALCS -- started 7-3.
The 2019 Red Sox opened up with an 11-game road trip out west, returning home to Fenway with a 3-8 record. It took a full month for the team to get back to level ground at .500, and the season ultimately went nowhere.
And while the low quality of opponent certainly helped the Red Sox in building this 7-3 record, it's vitally important for a team to be able stack up wins against the most beatable opponents in the league. And that's where our list of takeaways from the opening road trip can begin.
Red Sox Take Care Of Business
Again, there's no reason to jump for joy after a sweep of the A's and a series win over the Angels. Those are two of the worst teams in baseball. Simply taking care of business is not an overly impressive accomplishment.
Yet it's something that has escaped the Red Sox last season.
Last year's Red Sox went an abysmal 21-26 against the 10 worst teams in MLB. That included sweeps at Fenway at the hands of the Cardinals (71-91) and Pirates (76-86), and a series loss at home to the Rockies (59-103). Had the Red Sox been able to "take care of business" against those teams and gone something like 30-17, then they would have stayed in the playoff hunt until the end of the season. Considering the injuries and limitations of the roster, that would have been a reasonably successful campaign.
It's a simple thing, but an important matter. And with the state of MLB being such that there are a number of bad teams out there -- the A's, Marlins, White Sox, Rockies, Nationals, Angels and Royals come to mind -- there's a whole lot of "easier" wins there for the taking. If the Red Sox can continue to dominate the worst teams in the league while playing close to .500 ball against the best teams, then they'll find themselves staying alive in that wild-card hunt late in the season. It's that simple.
Tyler O'Neill Is Barry Bonds 2.0
OK, overstatement. But what the new Red Sox outfielder did on that road trip was extremely impressive.
In just 28 at-bats, O'Neill belted five home runs, tying him with Mookie Betts for the league lead in that category. He also has five singles and seven walks thus far, giving him a .357 batting average, a .514 on-base percentage and a 1.406 OPS. O'Neill also leads the American League in runs scored with 12 (Betts leads MLB with 16).
O'Neill has only shown this type of power once in his career, as he hit 34 homers in 138 games played in 2021. He hit 14 home runs (in 96 games) in 2022 and had just nine homers last year in 72 games played.
The Opening Day home run record was a fun story in Seattle, but O'Neill has remained consistent throughout the trip. It's early, but he looks like a solid upgrade to Alex Verdugo.
Red Sox Starting Pitchers Can Have A Best-Case Scenario
Putting it frankly, there just weren't many optimists regarding this starting rotation. But through two full turns, we now know that a best-case scenario can happen, even if it turns out to just be a short burst.
With Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck each making two starts, the rotation is 5-1, with the lone loss getting thrown on Pivetta in a 1-0 defeat in Seattle. The rotation collectively has a 1.53 ERA, allowing just nine earned runs over 53 innings.
And it's that innings total that is most important. Nobody's gone very deep into a game just yet, but nobody's had to leave before the fifth inning. Whitlock lasted 4.1 innings in his start on Saturday, and Crawford was pulled with two outs in the fifth inning in the Red Sox' win in Anaheim on Friday night. Outside of that, starters have gone five or six innings in the other eight games.
Of course, we have to mention quality of opponent again. The Mariners rank 28th in team OPS, while the A's rank 23rd and the Angels are 18th. Against some heavier-hitting teams, life will get much more difficult for the rotation.
But the same point applies again: There are a number of bad teams out there, and if this rotation can pitch this well against them, the team is going to win more games than most of us expected.
Red Sox Bullpen Is ... Good?
Here's a stat for you: Seven relievers have pitched at least four innings thus far. Four of those seven relievers have ERAs of 0.00, and the highest ERA in that group is 3.00. It seems as though the Red Sox' bullpen is good.
It's not entirely surprising that a bullpen put together by a reliever in Craig Breslow is strong, but the early-season performance has been tremendous.
Even when factoring in Joely Rodriguez's four appearances, the Red Sox have the sixth-best WHIP (1.018) in MLB and fourth-best ERA (1.45).
They also have the sixth-most saves, thanks to Kenley Jansen going 3-for-3 as well as Chase Anderson snagging a pair of multi-inning saves in blowouts.
The back end with Chris Martin and Jensen was expected to be a strength of the team, but the supporting cast -- including Greg Weissert, Isaiah Campbell, Josh Winckowski and the rookie Justin Slaten -- has performed better than anyone outside of Breslow and Andrew Bailey might have expected.
Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela Provide Electricity
Jarren Duran is providing the highest entertainment level from a Red Sox outfielder since a young Jacoby Ellsbury was scoring from second base on a wild pitch. Duran absolutely feasted on A's pitching, going 9-for-12 in three games in Oakland. He's hitting .349 on the year and he's 6-for-7 on stolen base attempts, giving him the second-most steals in MLB. (The caught stealing was a pickoff attempt, too, so he's yet to be thrown out by a catcher.)
And while the 23-year-old Rafaela remains a work in progress at the dish, he's provided a number of highlight-reel plays in center field already. (He also had a blooper-reel-worthy drop.) Combined with the speed he's shown on the basepaths, he's been fun to watch, to say the least.
This level of speed and athleticism is, to put it simply, fun to watch. And it can go a long way in keeping the entertainment level of this year's team at an appealing level.
The Catchers Are Hitting
This one may not hold for long, but the duo of Connor Wong and Reese McGuire has mashed to begin the year.
With two homers, McGuire has already doubled his 2023 total. And he's been a good hitter outside of the dingers, going 8-for-24 (.333) with a double and team-high eight RBIs. Combined with Connor Wong (.333 BA in 15 at-bats), Red Sox catchers have an .873 OPS, fourth-best in MLB.
Is it sustainable? Maybe not. But it's played a role in that 7-3 start.
And Now, The Not So Good
Trevor Story's injury is a bit devastating, both for him personally and the Red Sox' team defense. David Hamilton will get first crack at replacing story, though Romy Gonzalez could get a shot as well. ... Overall, the Red Sox look better defensively than last year, but they still have committed eight errors, tied for eighth-most in baseball. Their .978 team fielding percentage ranks in the bottom third of the league, and Rafael Devers' error on Saturday allowed the Angels' only runs to score in a 2-1 Red Sox loss. ... Second baseman Enmanuel Valdez is hitting .125 with a .362 OPS to start the year with one extra-base hit (a home run), while Masataka Yoshida has a .645 OPS. Both Valdez and Yoshida have played every game. Bobby Dalbec, who's gotten starts against lefties, is 0-for-9 with six strikeouts. ... Joely Rodriguez, the lone lefty on the pitching staff, got off to a rough start, allowing four runs (three earned) in his first 1.1 innings of the season. He has, however, come back with consecutive scoreless relief outings. ... Rafael Devers has hit two home runs, and he hasn't been bad, per se. But he's driven in just three runs and is 7-for-32 to start the season. As Boston's best and most important hitter, he's yet to really get going.
Up Next
The 7-3 Red Sox will host the 5-4 Orioles for a three-game set, beginning Tuesday at 2:10 p.m. That series will kick off a 10-game homestand, with the Angels (5-4) coming in for three games and the Guardians (7-2) playing four games in Boston, beginning with the Patriots' Day matinee on Marathon Monday.
