The Boston Red Sox are starting to wake up after one of the team's slowest starts in recent memory. Boston's 9-13 record and its tied-for-last-place standing in the American League East still reflect the early troubles, some of which still linger. But the AL has underwhelmed early on, leaving the Sox plenty of time to recover.
The New York Yankees have arrived in Boston for the first of four series with the Red Sox this year, beginning on April 21 — a Tuesday, which is strange, as the rivals usually face off on weekends. The Yankees have a one-game lead in first place in the AL East, and their one of the top home run hitting teams in baseball, as they tend to be year in and year out.
Yet, the upcoming series against their archrival could offer the Red Sox a golden chance to break out. Last season, Boston, a chronically-.500 baseball team until just before the All-Star break, overperformed against New York, which was 16 games above .500 when the teams first met on June 6.
The Red Sox won three of their four series against the Yankees last season, including one three-game sweep. Boston's lone series loss came in its final matchup of the season, when it had lost Roman Anthony and some starting pitching to the injured list. Maybe New York had the Red Sox's number by then, as it went on to win the Wild Card series.
Fans are hoping Boston's rivalry dominance from last year's regular season matchups continues into this season, and New York underestimating the Red Sox might help. Not only do the Sox rise to the occasion against the Yankees, in particular, they're finally finding themselves in both sides of the ball.
After dominating season series last season, Red Sox have an edge over rival Yankees
Anthony is seemingly inching toward a breakout after a slow start. He was batting .200/.290/.309 through April 12 with abnormally elevated whiff and strikeout numbers. Anthony is slashing .318/.516/.409 in his last seven games and he's worked eight walks in that time. Caleb Durbin is also starting to find himself, with a .250/.379/.417 slash line in the last week and four doubles in that time.
Masataka Yoshida is a great matchup for New York's righty starters Luis Gil and Cam Schlittler and Alex Cora should play him as much as possible until the offense wakes up more and someone can replace his production. Yoshida is slashing .324/.477/.412 this season and his on-base percentage leads the team.
Cora has described the Red Sox's rotation situation as "fluid" in the wake of Sonny Gray's knee injury, but as of April 21, Boston has Connelly Early, Ranger Suárez and Brayan Bello lined up to face the Yankees. Early (2.29 ERA) and Suárez (3.22 ERA) have been the Sox's most consistent pitchers through four outings, each. Bello has historically dominated New York, to the tune of a 2.35 ERA over 65 innings in his career.
Not only are the Red Sox seemingly starting to find their rhythm, having won seven of their last 12 games, they'll be motivated against the division-leading Yankees. Boston thrived against New York last season, and a rivalry matchup could be just the thing that brings the Red Sox together.
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