Red Sox News: 6 highlights from 2022 regular season schedule

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Looking ahead to 6 key moments of the 2022 Boston Red Sox schedule

Things haven’t looked great for the Boston Red Sox lately. The team barely played .500 baseball in July, finishing the month 13-12. Thanks to the Mariners taking two-of-three games from the Rays after Tampa swept Boston, the Red Sox remain just 1.5 games out of first place in the division after their series loss against the Tigers.

It’s not time to press the panic button yet, but it is getting down to crunch time for Boston who can’t afford to falter any further down the stretch. The next two weeks will be pivotal in deciding where Boston ends up in the division standing.

Over the upcoming four consecutive series, Boston takes on each of their AL East competitors. The Rays aren’t the only worry as the Blue Jays and Yankees are intent on contending this season. They made significant moves at the deadline, scooping up high profile trade targets that many teams including Boston were eyeing. Boston will have to show the other squads what they’re made of to take home the division title.

Just for a moment, I invite you to forget all that and leave the stresses of the playoff push behind by looking ahead to 2022. MLB released the schedule yesterday and it’s ripe for prediction, projection, and all kinds of possibilities.

Lock in your 2022 plans.
Next season's schedule is here.

🗓️: https://t.co/WOUGbzznPh pic.twitter.com/VTlYM91O8K
— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 4, 2021

Here are some of the key moments that Red Sox fans have to look forward to during the 2022 regular season.

July 04, 2010; Boston, MA, USA; A general view as a large American flag hangs over the green monster before the start of the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports /

Red Sox Opening Day

The MLB season gets underway with all 30 teams in action on March 31st. 11 of the 15 games will match up two teams from the same division, including the opening series for the Red Sox. Boston will play host to Tampa Bay in their opening weekend series at Fenway.

This marks the third consecutive season the Red Sox open the regular season at home against a divisional opponent. For the last two seasons, Boston squared off against Baltimore on Opening Day. In 2020, they smashed the O’s 13-2 in what would be one of the lone highlights of that dismal season. In 2021, they got swept by Baltimore before turning it around and becoming one of the best teams in all of baseball.

Maybe the key to a successful season is an Opening Day loss? Maybe one game sample sizes shouldn’t be used to predict the outcome of a 162-game season? Either way it’s better than that disastrous road trip the Red Sox opened the season with in 2019. I’ll take a home opener over an 11-game west coast slog any time.

Apr 17, 2021; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; The shoes of Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2) commemorate the Boston Marathon during the sixth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /

Red Sox annual Patriots’ Day game

Marathon Monday has always been a special day in the city of Boston, but it means even more since the tragic events in 2013. It’s a day that brings the whole city together.

In 2022, the Boston Marathon will take place on Patriots’ Day for the first time since 2019 as the 126th running of the Boston Marathon is scheduled for Monday April 18th, 2022. The Red Sox are hosting the Minnesota Twins that weekend and will take them on in the late morning matinee. Simultaneously, hoards of runners (read: crazy people) battle fatigue and chafing as they complete the 26.2 mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston.

I hope they bring back the Nike City Connect jerseys for Marathon weekend again next season. I know they were hit or miss with viewers, but I really liked them. Would I want the Red Sox draped in bright yellow and baby blue permanently? Absolutely not. But those jerseys and that color has significant meaning to the city and I think it’s a nice tribute.

That said, on Marathon Monday itself I don’t want to see the Red Sox in anything other than the home whites with Boston on the chest. Why? Because in the immortal words of David Ortiz

“This jersey that we wear today, it doesn’t say Red Sox, it says Boston…This is our F’n city, and nobody gonna dictate our freedom. Stay strong!”

Jun 9, 2018; Chicago, IL, USA; The ivy covered brick outfield wall with the scoreboard is seen prior to a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports /

Red Sox Interleague play

The AL East is matched up against the NL Central in interleague play next season, meaning the Red Sox will face the Cubs, Cardinals, Reds, Pirates, and Brewers in 2022. Here’s how that scheduling shakes out:

vs. CIN (5/31-6/1), @CIN (9/20-9/21)

vs. STL (6/17-6/19)

@ CHC (7/1-7/3)

vs. MIL (7/29-7/31)

@ PIT (8/16-8/18)

Boston hit the jackpot from a historic/scenic ballpark perspective with their interleague schedule this year. The Red Sox are set to take on the Cubs in Chicago for the first time since 2012. When it comes to classic ballparks, Wrigley is right up there alongside Fenway. The cherry on top is that the two will square off on July 4th weekend. The Red Sox and Cubs playing baseball against each other on Independence Day is the stuff our founding fathers dreamed of. Pure Americana.

Later in the summer, the Pirates host the Sox at PNC Park which features the iconic backdrop of the Roberto Clemente bridge against the Pittsburgh skyline. Visiting PNC Park is high up on my MLB bucket list because of that view, and I just may have to check it off next season.

I’m sure Great American Ballpark (home of the Reds) is an adequate venue to spectate a ballgame as well, it just doesn’t hold a candle to either of the aforementioned. The Reds will also travel to Fenway along with the Brewers and Cardinals.

As they have in nearly even season since interleague play began in 1997, Boston will also have a home and away series against the Braves:

@ ATL (5/10-5/11), vs. ATL (8/9-8/10)

Jun 27, 2021; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez (7) slides into second base during the first inning against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports /

Red Sox vs. Yankees

This season the Red Sox and Yankees had to wait until June for the first clash between the bitter rivals. The wait is much shorter in In 2022 as Boston will travel to New York in April for the Yankees home opener.

The Yankees make their first trip to Fenway in mid-July and then return in August and September. For fans looking to catch a game in enemy territory, the Red Sox head back to the Bronx for the final series before the All Star break and then again at the end of September.

vs. NYY: (7/7-7/10), (8/12-8/14), (9/13-914)

@ NYY: (4/7-4/10), (7/15-7/17), (9/22-925)

It took seven Boston victories this season before the Yankees finally got the better of the Red Sox in 2021. The season series stands at 10-3 with nine games left to play.

Since 1969 when MLB was divided to the divisions that exist today, the most wins the Red Sox have ever tallied over the Yankees in a single season was 14 in 1973. Even the 2018 team that set the franchise record with 108 wins barely outmatched the Yankees during the regular season, winning 10 of 19 games.

Boston has owned New York in 2021 and just need to go north of .500 in their remaining games against the Yankees to topple that 1973 record.

Jul 14, 2020; Los Angeles, California, United States; A 2022 MLB All Star game sign above the right field pavilion at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Red Sox hit the All-Star break

The Dodgers will host the MLB All-Star game in 2022, the first time the midsummer classic will be played at Dodger Stadium since 1980. In that 1980 season, Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn, Jim Rice and Tom Burgmeier represented the Red Sox. Only time will tell who gets the nod for the Sox in 2022.

After screwing the Red Sox out of a rest day this past All-Star break, MLB provided Boston the full four days rest in 2022. If this year’s July struggle is any indication, that extra day of rest next year may prove valuable down the stretch.

Side note: It’s been too long since we’ve had a player from the Red Sox compete in a home run Derby. The last Red Sox slugger to step up the plate was Big Papi in 2011, the year after he took home the crown in 2010. I want Devers up there next season going toe-toe with Pete Alonso. Alex Cora mentioned on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni & Fauria” that Devers was invited to participate in the home run derby in Colorado, but declined because “he feels like he’s not a home run hitter in BP”. I find it hard to believe that Devers, who currently ranks 6th in the league in homers, wouldn’t do well in the competition. I hope he changes his mind in the coming years.

Apr 3, 2021; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox catcher Kevin Plawecki (25) reaches home plate for a run during the fifth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /

Red Sox final homestand

vs. BAL (9/27-9/29)

As summer turns to fall in Boston, the Red Sox will make their final regular season appearance at Fenway in 2022 against the Orioles. I don’t see the Orioles improving drastically from this year to next, so that series should provide a nice push for the Red Sox as they head into the playoffs…as the #1 seed in the American league, I’m sure.

There’s a lot to look forward to in 2022, but it’s time to turn our focus back to 2021. The playoff race is heating up and each game means more down the stretch.

Next. Serious strikeout problem with their young players. dark

Over the last week the team has been down, but they are far from out. This is a team that had the most wins in the league as recently as last week. A team that just traded for one of the best lefty power hitters in the game today. A team that is adding Chris Sale back into it’s rotation. That’s not a team that I’m worried about, that’s a team that other teams worry about.

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