The Red Sox currently hold the best record in baseball and just completed a sweep of the first place Angels, where they won each game by at least six runs or more.
Boston, through 18 games, has asserted itself as the league’s best team. Despite many ready to crown a slew of other teams prior to the season starting. Like the reigning champion Astros, the incredibly deep Cubs, or even their own division rival Yankees – who just took two of three from in dominating fashion.
Their offense leads the league in runs scored, RBI, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, and they strike out less than any team in baseball at 16.3%. They walk slightly above nine percent of their at-bats and their batting average of balls in play is second to only to the Athletics at .323. The only thing that may be more efficient in Boston than the Red Sox offense is the cities energy efficiency! (If you’re not here for energy puns, this is the time to leave).
And the striking part about the Red Sox offense is that they are not just clubbing homers all the time, despite being one of the top power teams. They’re just hitting everyone, averaging 10.5 hits per game over their first 18 games, and the hits are coming from all over the lineup. But it also helps when your best player in Mookie Betts is finding his power stroke.
Through his first 11 games, Betts had only hit two home runs and driven in seven RBI but was still raking at the plate with a slashing of .405/.500/.690. But over the last six games, Betts has doubled his power numbers, adding four home runs and another seven RBI, featuring a jaw-dropping 1.400 on-base plus slugging. Factor in Betts finding his power stroke alongside a red-hot J.D. Martinez and Hanley Ramirez, and you have a Red Sox lineup made to shred the league’s best pitching staffs.
Four-men, no runs
Of course, nobody should be that surprised that a team featuring top-10 offense from last year that added one of the best power bats in baseball this off-season is crushing the ball early. But what is surprising, is that the Red Sox pitchers have all figured it out at the same time.
Chris Sale has continued to assert himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball, finally getting the recognition he deserves in his 2nd season in Boston. But former Cy-Young winners Rick Porcello and David Price are looking like guys who won Cy Young awards – which hasn’t necessarily been the case throughout each of their Red Sox tenures.
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Both Price and Porcello have dazzled alongside Sale and fourth starter Eduardo Ramirez, who is currently sporting the worst ERA on the staff at 3.45, forming the league’s best rotation to start the season with a 1.98 ERA. With 106 strikeouts compared to just 26 walks, the Red Sox rotation is attacking batters and keeping the ball in the yard with an excellent 5.4% home run/fly ball rate.
With many questioning whether or not the Red Sox have enough to compete with the Yankees, Betts, and Co. have made it clear they are the class of the AL East. And even with this small sample size, the Red Sox are playing elite baseball in all facets of the game.