Checking in on the Red Sox AL East Rivals: Week One
Checking in on the Red Sox AL East Rivals
It’s never too early to scoreboard watch. With the Boston Red Sox projected to be in an absolute dogfight in the competitive AL East, every game in this division can make a difference. This will be the first of a weekly series evaluating the recent happenings in the best division in baseball.
As you’ll see, there are only three teams listed below, so I want to give a little love to the Baltimore Orioles. The perennial cellar dwellers haven’t hit a lick this season, but they combined to go 3-3 against the Brewers and the Yankees, two playoff teams from 2021, so hats off to them.
One final note before we get started: This series will usually only cover the previous week, but given that the season opened on a Thursday, I decided to cover the last 10 days instead of seven.
Red Sox rival: New York Yankees
Weekly Record: 5-5
So far, the 2022 Yankees look a lot like the 2021 Yankees. The pitching staff has again been effective, with Luis Severino coming back to join Nestor Cortes, Jameson Taillon, Gerrit Cole, and Jordan Montgomery in a strong rotation. It appears that Severino’s stuff has survived Tommy John surgery, and he has allowed just two runs over his first eight innings. Cole hasn’t been as sharp (5.59 ERA), but five of his six runs have come on home runs by Rafael Devers and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., so you can give him a pass on that.
The bullpen, for the most part, has also performed so far. They allowed just five earned runs over their first nine games of the season, with Lucas Luetge, Miguel Castro, and Chad Green all untouched in their combined 13 appearances. There have been a few blips along the way, such as Aroldis Chapman walking each of the three batters he faced on Thursday and the Orioles roughing up Jonathan Loaisaga for five runs in the bottom of the eighth, but the bullpen has overall been as good as advertised.
Yet like last season, it has been the offense holding them back. Besides Aaron Hicks (.346 average) and D.J Lemahieu (.333), nobody in the Yankees lineup is hitting. Josh Donaldson (.200 average, 595 OPS) has struggled in his first couple of series as a Yankee, Gleyber Torres (.161, .552) has carried over his poor play from last year, and Kyle Higashioka (.120, .280) has been even worse.
The Yankees series in Baltimore was particularly anemic, as the terrible Orioles pitching staff held them to just 6 runs in their three-game series victory It’s too early to make any grand assessments on the Yankees offense, but it’s clear that their new-look offense is off to a poor start.
Red Sox rival: Toronto Blue Jays
Weekly Record: 6-4
Many people, including this author, believed the Blue Jays were primed to run away with the division. Yet after a week and a half, including sets against the lowly Rangers and Athletics, the Jays sit at just 6-4 with a negative three run differential.
The biggest reason for concern for the Blue Jays so far is Hyun-Jin Ryu. He signed with Toronto prior to the 2020 season, but after a strong debut campaign, Ryu saw his ERA rise by over a run and a half and his strikeout rate drastically decrease. Those struggles have carried over into 2022, as he has allowed 11 runs in his first 7.1 innings. Ryu has always been a finesse pitcher who had a small margin for error, but at age 35, that margin may have disappeared entirely.
The offense, meanwhile, has been up-and-down. They absolutely annihilated the Rangers pitching staff on opening weekend but scored just 9 runs in their four games in the Bronx. Bo Bichette (.222 average, .555 OPS) is struggling, and with Teoscar Hernandez on the injured list, much of the offensive load has fallen on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
None of this to say that the Blue Jays are no longer AL East favorites. The team is still stacked, and they have more than enough offense and pitching to overcome the early injuries and underperformance. Still, it’s nice to see that the Blue Jays are struggling to get going in 2022, especially with the team set to enter Fenway Park for a four-game set this week.
Red Sox rival: Tampa Bay Rays
Weekly Record: 5-5
Everybody likes to assume that the Rays are always going to be at the top of the AL East, no matter how many players they lose. This offseason has been no different, as despite losing Nelson Cruz, Colin McHugh, Joey Wendle, Austin Meadows, and Michael Wacha and doing little to replace them, the Rays were still expected to win 90 or more games entering the season.
The first week and a half of the season will not determine if the Rays win the division or not, but it did show some of their early flaws, the biggest of which being the starting rotation. Promising youngster Luis Patino has already joined Shane Baz and Tyler Glasnow on the IL, forcing the Rays to turn to the likes of Tommy Romero and Josh Fleming to make early-season starts.
The offense has also not been up to snuff so far. Despite excellent starts from Wander Franco and Ji-Man Choi, the Rays entered play on Sunday 19th in the majors in runs and 20th in home runs. Randy Arozarena (.513 OPS) and Yandy Diaz (.603 OPS) haven’t gotten going, and Kevin Kiermaier and Mike Zunino have combined to go just 3-for-37.
If there’s one thing we know about the Rays, however, it’s that it will take more than one bad week to derail their season. Yet this week exposed some serious issues with the team, and with the injuries piling up, it’s hard to see things getting better anytime soon.
Next. Analysis of the Red Sox/Tigers series. dark