The Red Sox can shift the standings with Mariners coming to town
The Boston Red Sox began their season with massive losses to Seattle. This weekend they can change their fates by defeating that very same team.
With their victory against Baltimore on Wednesday night, the Red Sox finally own a .500 record. It’s been a long time or at least it’s felt that way since Boston has had some positivity coming from the field. The team has always seemed to be confident that the fortunes can be turned around and it seems that time has come.
The season opened with Boston being embarrassed by the Mariners and that set the season off on the wrong foot. It’s not embarrassing that the losses came at the hands of Seattle but that the Red Sox showed absolutely zero fight. They’re the defending World Series Champions and you never would’ve been able to tell. They looked more like a last place club than a 108 win organization.
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But that was then and this is now and the team that will be taking the field tonight feels much different than the one that showed up in that series. The pitching is the biggest turn around since Opening Day with Chris Sale, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez, and David Price all finding their mojo and getting back to top form. The bullpen has found its spirit with Marcus Walden, Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier, and Brandon Workman all being momentum killers for opposing batters.
With the arms going out there each and every night and reminding the rest of Major League Baseball just how damn good they are this team has new life. It isn’t all rainbows and sunshine though as the bats still seem to have a hard time showing up. We’ve seen in recent efforts that the offense can be as healthy as possible scoring a myriad of runs. And then we have games like Wednesday night’s where it was a struggle to get 2 runs across the plate.
The offense can break out any night of the week and much like the pitching it feels like the volcano is ready to erupt. J.D. Martinez finally smacked his 200th homer and Mookie Betts is once again looking to be in MVP form at the plate. Mitch Moreland and Christian Vazquez are both playing the unlikely hero role but are showing to be more clutch than ever anticipated.
The only player that seems to not have it figured out at the plate is Jackie Bradley Jr, but as we saw in Baltimore he is worth far more in the field than at the plate. If it wasn’t for his game-saving catch against the Orioles there would be an entirely different narrative going into this upcoming homestand. His bat will come as it always does but for now, I’ll gladly keep him in the lineup if he can keep making plays like that.
At this moment the Red Sox currently find themselves in third place in the AL East. They’re currently 5 games back of the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays. As we all know that isn’t much of a lead in this game and one bad weekend can throw the standings on their heads. And that’s what the Red Sox are looking to do with this 7 game stay at Fenway Park. They face a familiar foe in the Mariners to kick things off and it couldn’t be a better time.
When the season began Seattle was off to a fairy tale start and was running through the baseball world. The carriage is now back to being a pumpkin and the Mariners find themselves 4 games off of the first place Houston Astros. With some of the air being let out of the balloon now is the perfect time for the Red Sox to strike and get some games back in the win column. Now that Boston has a level win-loss record it’s like a brand new season. A fresh slate to make another drive towards October.
With an 8 game homestand and a wave of momentum coming with them back to Boston now is the opportunity for the Red Sox to strike while the iron is hot. Seattle lost their last game before heading to Fenway Park and the Red Sox have won 5 of their last 7 from their most recent road trip. The time and setting are right for the Red Sox to storm the barricades and take back what belongs to them.
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The Red Sox have a new lease on their baseball lives by finally getting back to a .500 record. They can’t afford to fumble things much as they did at the beginning of the season. There is plenty of baseball left to be played this season but in the same breath, there isn’t time to be wasted. If they want to make another charge at bringing a Commissioner’s Trophy to Fenway Park it all starts this weekend against Seattle.