The Boston Red Sox have returned most of the roster from last year’s record-setting, World Series champion team, but you would never know it after the way they have performed out of the gate in 2019. Their starting pitching has been downright abysmal, but one of the best players in franchise history is not concerned about it.
After the Red Sox fell to 1-4 on the season with a 7-0 loss to the Oakland A’s on Monday, Pedro Martinez took to Twitter to tell people to “relax.”
I’m not worried or concerned about the @RedSox starting pitchers. They might not be performing to the best of their capacity but they’ll come around. This is just the beginning. Relax.
— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) April 2, 2019
Panicking five games into any 162-game season would be absurd, and that is certainly the case with Boston’s slow start. Though, pessimists could point to stats like this as a bad sign for the remainder of their season.
Red Sox have allowed 41 runs in their first 5 games.
Last 5 MLB teams to do that averaged 67 wins for the season.
— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) April 2, 2019
The Red Sox dominated baseball last year with a perfect balance of pitching and offense, but the first turn through their starting rotation has been a disaster. Chris Sale opened up the season by allowing seven earned runs in three innings against the Seattle Mariners. Fellow “ace” David Price got through six innings on Monday night, but he allowed four runs as Boston’s offense went stale. Rick Porcello also gave up four earned runs in his first start, so you get the point.
Boston has done a great job of locking up key players over the past few weeks, but it’s time to put the contract negotiations aside and shake the World Series hangover.
