Welcome back, baseball. We’ve missed you so.
The Boston Red Sox’s 2018 season officially begins Thursday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla., where they’ll battle the Tampa Bay Rays in an Opening Day matchup at Tropicana Field.
Expectations are high for the Red Sox, who have won the last two American League East titles but fell short in the A.L. Division Series in both years.
Left-hander Chris Sale gets the call on the mound, making his fourth career Opening Day start and first in a Red Sox uniform. Sale is Boston’s fifth different Opening Day starter in the last five years.
New manager Alex Cora will roll out a potent lineup behind Sale that features highly touted slugger J.D. Martinez batting fourth in the designated hitter role. Martinez and Co. will square off against Rays ace Chris Archer, who is making his fourth consecutive Opening Day start for Tampa Bay.
Here are your lineups for Red Sox vs. Rays:
RED SOX
Mookie Betts, RF
Andrew Benintendi, LF
Hanley Ramirez, 1B
J.D. Martinez, DH
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Rafael Devers, 3B
Eduardo Nunez, 2B
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Christian Vazquez, C
Chris Sale, RHP (2017 stats: 17-8, 2.90 ERA)
RAYS
Matt Duffy, 2B
Kevin Kiermaier, CF
Carlos Gomez, RF
C.J. Cron, 1B
Wilson Ramos, C
Denard Span, LF
Adeiny Hechavarria, SS
Daniel Robertson, 2B
Rob Refsnyder, DH
Chris Archer, RHP (2017 stats: 10-12, 4.07 ERA)
