Fourth Day of the Zenith

This one's from the Sports Desk.

The Boston Red Sox are in first place in the American League East.

No one had high expectations for the Sox this year. Few people had any expectations for the team at all. They finished dead last in the AL East for the past two years in a row, and haven't made any major adjustments or additions to the team or their pitching rotation in the off season. Lucas Giolito, the one pitcher they did acquire in the offseason, injured his elbow in spring training,  underwent internal brace surgery, and will miss the entire season. After that news broke, the Wall Street Journal declared the Red Sox season was already over before it even began.

I met several Red Sox fans in Knoxville during the Big Ears festival. They're easy to spot by the big letter B's on their caps and the Calvinistic clouds of self doubt constantly circling around their heads. None of them, not a one, expressed any optimism for the team this year. "The front office obviously doesn't care how the team does," one put it, "so why should I?" Anther was convinced that club management was only interested in selling tickets for expensive luxury suites and not concerned about the fan base that supported the team over all these years, and swore he'd never go to another game at Fenway ever again. Their attitude does raise the question though of why, if they're so contemptuous, are they still wearing Boston baseball hats? 

Meanwhile, the archrival and existential enemy New York Yankees have been padding their payroll with superstar players.  They set a MLB record with $31.5 million for slugger Juan Soto, and bought former Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo on the free-agent market, potentially strengthening themselves while weakening the Sox. Almost every sportswriter and news site predicts the Yankees will win the American League pennant, if not the World Series.  This is their year, the pundits all tell us.

And the Yankees did get off to a strong start, going 5-0 in their first five games. But they're been 1-2 in the last three, and yesterday, million-dollar man Juan Soto went 0-4 at bat, including two strikeouts, and Verdugo ended the game with a pop fly with two men on base. Their vaunted bullpen walked in two runs in the 9th on a series of wild pitches. 

As if things weren't already bad enough, the Red Sox seemed to have drawn the short straw schedule-wise with their first ten games all road games on the West Coast (Seattle, Oakland, and L.A.). But they split their series in Seattle, 2-2, and swept Oakland, 3-0, and won the first game of their series in L.A. (five consecutive road wins). As of today, the Red Sox are 6-2, the same as the Yankees, and are tied with New York for first place in the ALE. 

A sports newsletter I got this morning declared, "As predicted, Yankees off to a scorching start." Well, fuck me silly with a blow torch, but the Red Sox are off to just as scorching a start as the Yankees. It doesn't fit in neatly with the preconceived schema in the minds of sportswriters, journalists, and pundits, but 6-2 is 6-2, regardless of whether it's the Yankees or the Red Sox. Deny it or ignore it or refute it if you will, but the Boston Red Sox, with their crippled rotation, shallow bullpen, and absence of superstar sluggers, are off to a scorching start in 2024 whether y'all like it or not.

Not that I don't see challenges ahead.  Last night, shortstop Trevor Story made a diving attempt at a line drive, landed on his shoulder, and was writhing on the field in pain. They took him out of the game in obvious distress, and the team is waiting breathlessly to learn if his injury means the end of the road trip for Story, or the end of his season, or the end of his career. We have zero room - none - for any injuries or disappointments from our pitching staff. The team is mud-puddle shallow, paper thin, and virtually anything can send them into a tail-spin to the bottom of the standings.

But all that existed since the season began last week, and they're 6-2, 5-0 in their last five starts.  My prediction is that this October, despite all the challenges, this team will earn at least a Wild-Card spot in the playoffs.