If you thought MLB season began ten days ago, you were wrong. And if you thought it began last Thursday, when I was crying and screaming at Fenway Park, you would again be wrong.
No, the real work begins this today, when the Red Sox and Yankees face off for the first time. As much as it pains me to say this, the Yankees have been nothing short of abysmal in their first two weeks. Not. It makes me happier than having a pile of puppies and a giant pizza all to myself.
But like the Red Sox, the Yankees can go from worst to first in the blink of an eye. And vice versa. Baseball is a finicky game, and I’m not taking our 8-1 record against two Minor League-equivalent teams from Florida as anything more than they are.
Sure, we’ve got the best record in baseball, a hot streak, a $110-million-dollar DH who finally hit a home run, and a really cool manager. But last year, we made the postseason while also posting the worst home-run record in the American League. How is that possible? Well, we just happened to be the least terrible team in our division. Mookie Betts hit the most home runs on the team that hit the fewest home runs in the AL. It doesn’t make him good, just the least terrible. And that isn’t what we want this year.
The Yankees, no matter how badly they’re playing so far, are a real team. They’ve got Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, to name a few. We’ve got a fledgling JD Martinez, a productive Hanley Ramirez (last year, that would’ve been an oxymoron) and as of yesterday, Xander Bogaerts is on the DL. Anything can happen.
When we play the Yankees and hopefully win, I’ll feel infinitely more reassured about this team. Until then, I’ll be over here, stress-eating and holding my David Ortiz pillow for comfort.
Photo: New York Post
2 thoughts on “The Red Sox Season Really Begins Now”