By Justin McKinney, Sports Editor
The Red Sox are currently off to the best start in franchise history as they currently possess a 14-2 record and despite many claiming the team will eventually cool down, the Sox keep winning.
This past Tuesday the Red Sox had the daunting task of facing Angel’s rookie sensation Shonei Ohtani, who is 2-0 in his first two starts and has been lights out in both appearances. However, the Sox walloped him as he was shelled for three runs through just three innings of work as the Angel’s pulled him during the third.
The Sox, did not stop scoring though as Mookie Betts would go on to homer three times in the game and the Sox would score ten runs. On the defensive end David Price looked unhittable as he went five innings, let up a single run and only three hits.
This seems to be the story thus far for the Red Sox as their bats have been active as ever and their pitching is as good as it ever has been. Chris Sale and David Porcello have delivered early on in the season and some are even predicting that the two could be fighting for a Cy Young award at the end of the year.
Even more terrifying for the rest of the league is that outside of on poor start against the Yankees, David Price has been fantastic in his two other starts as he went seven innings in one and five in the other.
Sale in also third in the AL with a miniscule ERA of 1.23 and closer Craig Kimbrel has five saves and trails the AL save leader by just two saves. Porcello is also tied for most wins currently in the AL and if not for a horrid outing by Joe Kelly in first game of the season Chris Sale would also be amongst those names as he was saddled with a no decision in his first start.
The Sox offense also boasts three players Hanley Ramirez, J.D. Martinez, and Mookie Betts who all rank amongst the top ten players in the AL for RBI’s. Betts is third in home runs and leads the AL with a batting average of .389, Ramirez is not far behind either as he is currently hitting .327 to start the year.
While it is certainly difficult to play baseball at this high a level through 162 games, the interesting thing about this Red Sox team is all of the players aforementioned are seasoned veterans, who have proven they can play great baseball.
Of course each one of them will probably have a slump, however one thing is certain, it won’t last. This core group of players can certainly carry a team deep into October and this hot start will pay dividends when these guys can all rest in late September due to have such a hot start to the year.
This Red Sox team looks as good as any living Sox fan has ever seen, obviously there is a lot of baseball left to play but this team looks to have a very solid base and looks terrifying when they get hot. If they can play constituent baseball throughout the regular season, get rest come September and fly out of the gate in October I cannot fathom a team that could hang with them in a seven game series.