The Boston Red Sox seemingly were unbeatable last season, but that’s been far from the case to start the 2019 campaign.
The Red Sox, who won a franchise-record 108 regular-season games in 2018 and dropped just three playoff contests en route to a World Series title, suffered their fourth straight loss Tuesday night against the Oakland Athletics. Boston now is just one of five teams in the big leagues with only one win in 2019 to their credit.
So, how do these Red Sox thus far stack up with defending World Series champs of years past? Check out the stat below, which doesn’t exactly inspire hope for Boston’s chances of going back-to-back.
The Red Sox are the first reigning World Series champion to start 1-5 or worse since the 1998 Marlins. That team went on to lose 108 games. pic.twitter.com/NrARO1pBhv
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 3, 2019
Yikes.
Three of the Red Sox’s five losses have been by two runs or fewer, so it’s not like they’ve been getting their doors blown off every night to start the season. And with 156 games left to go, Boston has more than enough time to turn things around.
Because as David Price noted Monday, the Sox much rather would deal with struggles now rather than in late September.
