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* Text Features The Boston Red Sox Thursday, April 2, 2020 * The Boston Globe Why a shortened baseball season works in the Red Sox’ favor Peter Abraham Thursday was supposed to be the home opener at Fenway Park, a 2:05 p.m. tilt against Yoan Moncada and the newly competitive Chicago White Sox. The sellout crowd would have been eager to see the Red Sox regardless of how they played in the first seven games of the season. For one day, just being back in Fenway and seeing those crisp white home uniforms would have been enough. But if there is a home opener this year, it’s not going to be for a long time. Major League Baseball has officially pushed the season back until at least mid-May because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a more realistic appraisal is sometime in June or July. The idea of a brief spring training in June and then a July 4 Opening Day is something MLB officials privately believe is plausible. Their goal is to start the season when fans would be allowed at ballparks, but the idea of playing in empty stadiums has been discussed. It’s impossible to say how it will turn out, given how quickly the news about the pandemic changes. But as eager as we all are to see baseball, playing an abbreviated season could be an advantage to the Red Sox. They’ll never acknowledge that, but it’s true. Fewer games would mean less exposure for a shaky rotation that was further weakened Monday when Chris Sale had Tommy John surgery. Eduardo Rodriguez and Nathan Eovaldi are a solid combination at the top. Then it falls off sharply to Martin Perez and Ryan Weber. There’s no apparent fifth starter. Over the course of 162 games, it’s inevitable that a weak rotation will get exposed. But over 81 or even 100 games, the Sox conceivably could hit well enough to overcome that and get into the postseason. Even without Mookie Betts, a lineup with Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi, Mitch Moreland, and Christian Vazquez will score plenty of runs. Jackie Bradley Jr., in his free agent year, has ample motivation to improve his hitting. The same is true for newcomers Kevin Pillar and Jose Peraza, who are both on one-year deals. A late start to the season also works out well for right fielder Alex Verdugo, who would have been on the injured list this week if games were being played. Verdugo, the centerpiece acquisition of the Betts trade, arrived in Fort Myers still recovering from a back injury that knocked him out of the Dodgers lineup last August. But he is doing well and should be back by the time the season starts. Verdugo had an .817 OPS in 106 games for the Dodgers last season with 14 defensive runs saved in the outfield. He is potentially a very valuable player for the Sox. Before spring training ended so abruptly a few weeks ago, a scout told me that he believed Verdugo’s absence contributed to the Dodgers getting knocked out of the playoffs in the first round last season. “He plays with an edge, and they missed that,” the scout said. “He’s not afraid of a big situation, and he’ll like Fenway Park. He’ll be a good East Coast player.” What that means is Verdugo won’t be intimidated by large crowds, high expectations, or obscene hecklers in the Bronx. The Red Sox wanted the most talent they could get for Betts. They also may have gotten a player who will fit well in Boston, and that’s not always easy to accomplish. Verdugo can’t replace Betts. But get him on the field and the Sox have a dangerous lineup. The delayed start to the season also gives Collin McHugh a chance to further recover from his elbow injury and join the rotation. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who was in spring training on a minor league contract, should benefit, too, considering he had neck surgery over the offseason. Teams also will have expanded rosters when the season gets going, likely 29 or 30 players, to ease the burden on pitchers. That should give the Sox a chance to exploit what should be a deep bullpen group. The fewer games played this season means the fewer starts Sale will miss. It also improves the value of the Betts trade. The Dodgers gave up Verdugo, Jeter Downs, and Connor Wong believing they would have Betts for an entire season. They wouldn’t have made that deal for half a season. It’s a shame there won’t be any baseball played at Fenway Park on Thursday. But it actually could work out pretty well for the Red Sox in the long run. What we miss about Opening Day at Fenway Park Chad Finn In our current world of necessary isolation, I finds myself longing for familiar routines, those everyday ebbs and flows of life so easily taken for granted until troubling events show up and steal them. I imagine, as we socially distance for who knows how long, that at least we are all together in this sentiment. Thursday would have brought one of my favorite routines. Every Boston sportswriter should count his or her blessings in having the privilege to cover so many extraordinary events involving our teams over the last two decades — nine Super Bowls and four World Series, three Stanley Cup Finals, and two NBA Finals, a dozen champions in all. But for all of the confetti that has fluttered down on our champions over these seasons, for all of the times the duckboat engines fired up and we had ourselves a parade, there has never been anything more satisfying to me than Opening Day at Fenway Park. Oh, the quintessential sports day in Boston is Patriots Day, with the Marathon and the traditional early Red Sox game bringing a sense of community to the city, especially since the bombings in 2013. But the most optimistic day, the sunniest day no matter the weather, is the Fenway opener. In normal times, Thursday would have been the day for which we waited all winter. The new-look White Sox, with Edwin Encarnacion and Dallas Keuchel added to an intriguing roster, would have been in town, first pitch at 2:05 p.m. Perhaps the Red Sox, who would have already played seven games on the road, would have made their home debut with a winning record and accompanying optimism, something that was not in abundance during spring training. We can’t know what the game would bring, what the outcome would be, and none of the board-game simulations that are trying to fill those voids right now can properly tell us. But we do know what the routine of the day would have looked and felt and even smelled like. Me, I would have arrived four hours before first pitch, parking in a familiar garage on Jersey Street on the opposite side of Boylston Street from the ballpark. (I wonder if the prices would have been jacked up to $65 or $70 this year; at least we don’t have to discover that yet.) Grabbing my laptop and credential, I would have walked past Blaze Pizza on the right and Tasty Burger up on the left, the five-minute walk toward the media entrance. I would have noticed the bunting, and the enticing smell of the sausage cooking in the cart on the corner of Jersey Street and Van Ness, and maybe I would have peeked over to see who was on the NESN set next to the souvenir shop. I would have said hello to the security guards, shaking hands, and would have made mental notes on the most popular jerseys fans were wearing, especially whether any of you went with the Mookie Betts ensemble out of respect and defiance. I miss walking up the ramp the five levels to the press box, and walking back down to go to field level to watch batting practice. I miss the good moods of everyone there, the optimism in the air, at least for the day. I miss that routine now, retracing all of these steps that will never happen. Sometimes we find fool’s gold on Opening Day, such as when Carl Everett became an instant fan favorite by hitting two homers in his Fenway debut in 2000. Sometimes, the good times give way to disappointment, such as when Carlton Fisk, in his White Sox debut, homered to beat his former team in the ’81 opener. But often, treasured memories are forged in the opener, especially when a new season begins by offering one final salute to a successful one the year before. In 2005, we savored the special ceremony that was 86 years in the making, with Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Pesky raising the 2004 World Series banner, Dave Roberts and Derek Lowe returning for one last salute, and Mariano Rivera proving the most gracious of rivals. In 2008, teary-eyed Bill Buckner threw out the first pitch, a man who never should have required forgiveness nonetheless receiving catharsis in the form of raucous, rolling cheers. In 2014, the acknowledgment of the 2013 bombing tragedy and the tribute to resiliency was tonally perfect, delicate and inspiring at once. Last season, with the Red Sox arriving home with a 3-8 record, had an odder vibe, but when that 2018 championship banner was unveiled, more good times seemed not just possible, but practically certain.
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