Sports Q: How many games will the Red Sox win in 2019?
Discuss the Sox' strengths and potential weaknesses with Chad Finn and other baseball fans.
Welcome to Boston.com’s Sports Q, our daily conversation, initiated by you and moderated by Chad Finn, about a compelling topic in Boston sports. Here’s how it works: You submit questions to Chad through Twitter, Facebook, and email. He’ll pick one each weekday to answer, then we’ll take the discussion to the comments. Chad will stop by several times per day to navigate. But you drive the conversation. I saw in the Globe baseball preview section that you have the Red Sox winning the division again. I don’t agree. The Yankees’ bullpen is way better, it’s incredibly hard to repeat, and the Sox are going to have more injuries than last year. I’m putting them at 95 wins and the first wild card, just because there are so many horrible teams. You think they’re winning the division. How many games does that mean they will win. – Michael L.
I didn’t just have them winning the AL East; I picked them to become the first team since the 1998-2000 Yankees to repeat as World Series champions. I go back and forth on whether that will actually happen – the Yankees and Astros are right there with them for sure in the AL – but I do believe it’s a very real possibility.
Sure, they’ll probably have more injuries, though remember: They overcame getting 17 regular-season innings out of Chris Sale after July 27 last year, so it’s not like there weren’t big issues to deal with. I suppose it’s possible for Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, and Xander Bogaerts to regress statistically from last year since they were so damned good (especially the first two, and Bogaerts had a .883 OPS). But I’m banking on progress from Andrew Benintendi, Rafael Devers, and even Jackie Bradley Jr. to make up for any slight declines.
The Yankees bullpen is definitely an advantage. But I’m not especially worried about the Sox. The closer-by-committee approach Alex Cora is using makes sense – it’s basically a common-sense tactic of arranging your pitchers so that your best ones face the opposition’s best hitters in the biggest spots – and he’s not resistant to it like that dope Grady Little 16 years ago. He’s embracing this, and he can handle it. If not, they’ll add help. Hey, Craig Kimbrel is still waiting for a call, right?
How many games will they win? Well, entering 2018, the Red Sox hadn’t won at least a 100 in a season since 1946, when they won 104. Last year, they promptly went out and blew away the franchise record for wins, going 108-54, then 11-3 in the playoffs to earn consideration as one of the best single-season teams of all time. There will be some dropoff this year, just because everything has to go right to win 100, let alone 108. So let’s put them at 99, which wins the division by a game over the Yankees, setting up another October clash. Start taking your heart medicine now.
But what does everyone else think? How many games will the Red Sox win this season? I’ll hear you in the comments.
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