After 2-1 opening weekend, Red Sox have prime opportunity to get off to very good start
BOSTON -- The Red Sox took an L on Opening Day but then had a weekend-long party at Fenway Park. The fun may just be beginning.
While the concerns surrounding the team won't be going away any time soon, the plain reality is that the Red Sox' record should be pretty good when they get through their second weekend of the season.
That's largely because their upcoming opponents are some of the worst teams in the league.
The Red Sox open a three-game set at home on Monday night against the Pirates, who went 1-2 in their season-opening series in Cincinnati against the Reds. Pittsburgh won on Opening Day, 5-4, but then lost the next two games by a combined score of 9-3.
After that, the Red Sox will head to Detroit to face the Tigers, who are 0-3 and were outscored 21-3 in their season-opening series in Tampa Bay.
The Pirates are ranked 26th in CBS Sports' power rankings, 24th on ESPN's, and 26th on MLB.com's.
The Tigers are even worse, ranking dead last on CBS, 27th on ESPN, and 24th on MLB.com's.
For what it's worth, the Red Sox rank 17th, 19th and 18th, respectively, on those lists. (Only CBS' rankings have been updated after the first weekend of the season.)
While the Red Sox may not be in an ideal spot in rolling out Kutter Crawford and Nick Pivetta to start this series vs. Pittsburgh, they'll be opposed by Johan Oviedo and Roansy Contreras. As it lines up now, the Red Sox are looking at Spencer Turnbull, Joey Wentz, and Matthew Boyd pitching for Detroit.
Reasonably speaking, it's fair to believe the Red Sox should get through this week with a solid record of, say, 6-3 or 7-2 after getting a very gentle welcoming to the 2023 season from the schedule-makers.
The road gets markedly tougher beginning next week, when the Red Sox play four games in Tampa Bay before hosting the Angels and Twins, and then heading on the road to play the Brewers in Milwaukee. Given the pitching issues on display in Boston over the weekend, and without the assistance of some atrocious Baltimore defense to help the offense, the Red Sox are sure to run into some issues in the latter portion of the month.
For now, though, the Red Sox have a green light to rack up some wins and get the season started on a very positive note.
