A baseball season always includes a massive wave of adjustments. Even the best teams - the ones with ultimately win the World Series - understand that is part of the deal.
But usually there is an established blueprint that an April hiccup here or there won't shake. But for these Red Sox, just two weeks into the season feels like a back-to-the-drawing-board kind of vibe.
How is it that this team with so much somewhat unexpected optimism coming out of spring training can be sitting seven games out of first-place while possessing a 5-7 record on April 13? A chunk of that answer lies with their relationship with the Rays, who have included the Red Sox among their victims on the way to a 12-0 start. (With Wednesday night's 9-7 Tampa Bay win over the Sox at Tropicana Field serving as the latest example.)
But this has been more than just falling victim to a really good team. The world champion Astros, after all, were 6-7 to start their championship season in 2022, a mark they once again find themselves with this time around.
This has been a tidal wave of things gone wrong, with Wednesday just drowning the Red Sox a bit more.
- Chris Sale: The good feelings that came from a successful spring training are officially out the window after his third start of the season. Against the Rays, the lefty gave up six runs over four innings to push his ERA to 11.25. That makes 16 runs on 18 hits over 12 frames.
“Tough,” Sale told reporters when asked about his latest outing. “If we had a better starting pitcher, we would have had a better chance to win.”
- Zack Kelly: One of the bright spots - and better stories - was encompassed by a dark cloud after the reliever left the field in the fifth inning, grabbing his right elbow while fighting his emotions. It didn't look promising for the undrafted free agent who was just starting to get some momentum for his big league career.
“I was emotional for two reasons,” Kelly told reporters. "One, because I care about this game, these guys, and really I just enjoy doing this. And two, everything I went through to get here is just a lot. So, when something like that happens, I get emotional about it.”
- The lineup: Bobby Dalbec at shortstop. Yu Chang at second base. That was not exactly the vision for two weeks into the season back in Fort Myers. But there it was.
Cleanup hitter Masa Yoshida (.216 batting average, .680 OPS) was sidelined due to a hamstring issue, forcing Kiké Hernandez back to center field and Raimel Tapia to left field, with the scuffling Christian Arroyo getting the day off.
While Justin Turner did find is way a bit with a pair of hits - (with Hernandez also breaking out of an 0-for-27 with two, as well) - the Red Sox' meat of the order in the No. 3 (Turner), 4 (Triston Casas) and 5 (Tapia) spots had a hard time comparing to their Tampa Bay counterparts.
The Red Sox have the second-worst OPS out of the No. 3 spot in all of Major League Baseball, and residing sixth-from-last in the cleanup position. And in the two games since Adam Duvall exited the fifth position due to his wrist injury, the Sox have failed to get a single hit from their No. 5 guy.
There is so much more that has gone awry, with the uncertainty at shortstop, center field, second base and, with Casas' current struggles, first base lingering.
This certainly might be a case of it feeling a lot worse that it actually is considering the calendar and existence among plenty of close-to-.500 teams. But right now, it's really difficult to shake the feeling that this is going to be a tough course to reverse.
In the words of Neil Young, "The devil fools with the best laid plans." Welcome to the Red Sox' reminder and reality.
