The Red Sox start to the 2019 season has been, well, not what anyone expected. Even those who may want the Red Sox to play miserably couldn’t have predicted this for Boston. Two wins in the first eight games — four of which were against the Seattle Mariners, a team that had seemingly given up in the off-season.
This miserable start has given the Yankees about as wide an opening as they could ask for. Yet they’re currently smack dab in the middle of the division at 3-4. The Rays are first at 5-2 and the Orioles — yeah, those guys — are in second at 4-3. Tampa Bay is certainly a threat to both Boston and New York, but they should be nothing more than the second-place Wild Card team by the end of the year.
It’s the Red Sox and Yankees division, as it should be.
But with the way Boston has played, the Yankees should be fat and happy in first. All of their games have been at home. Not to mention, they’ve played the Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers. Combined, they only tallied three more with than the Red Sox did on their own — in the regular season.
Much of the problem has been out of the Yankees control, though. They’ve dealt with a remarkable amount of injuries to this point:
Avenge The Fallen #PinstripePride pic.twitter.com/nUICeJKFwt
— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) April 1, 2019
Eleven players have hit the injured list for New York in 2019, with Troy Tulowitzki being the newest addition.
No Giancarlo Stanton. No Didi Gregorious. No Luis Severino. Add eight more names. (One being the illustrious Iron Man Jacoby Ellsbury.)
The fact the Yankees haven’t full imploded as a result should concern the Red Sox. New York might be the deepest team in all of Major League Baseball, top to bottom. With most of these names being on the 10-day injury list, the Yankees will be at least close to full strength soon — although Severino and Miguel Andujar will take a while.
Once that happens, the Red Sox better have their mess figured out, or they are going to have an even bigger hole to dig themselves out of.
Make no mistake, if they fall well behind any of the other three teams the AL East, Boston can come back. Their lineup is still that much better. If it’s the Yankees, well, start hoping for home field advantage in the Wild Card Game, everyone. Because if the Yankees get a reasonably sizeable lead, the division is as good as theirs.
