Here’s Where MLB.com Ranks Red Sox’s Projected Lineup Among AL’s Top Orders

Baseball observers expect the Boston Red Sox to score plenty of runs next season.

MLB.com’s Paul Casella ranked the Red Sox’s projected 2020 lineup as No. 4 on his list of the American League’s top batting orders. Boston is expected to open the season with a lineup that largely is similar to the one that scored 901 runs in 2019, fourth-most in the AL.

Here’s what Casella wrote:

“With J.D. Martinez electing not to opt out of his deal and Mookie Betts still in Boston despite months of swirling trade rumors, the Red Sox are poised to enter 2020 with a top of the order that is still as potent as any in the Majors.”

” … Yet, as remarkable as those two have been for Boston, it was another duo — the one on the left side of the infield — that paced the AL in extra-base hits last season. Rafael Devers (90 extra-base hits) and Xander Bogaerts (85) finished first and second in the AL in that category, with both players putting together breakout seasons.

” … The Red Sox have a few more questions beyond those top four. Andrew Benintendi will be looking for a bounceback season following a disappointing 2019, while 24-year-old Michael Chavis will be hoping to build off an encouraging debut in which he hit 18 homers in 95 games.”

Boston produced 25 more runs in 2019 than it did in 2018, the year it led the AL in that department and won the World Series. With core veterans like Martinez and Betts remaining in place, and youngsters like Devers and Chavis eyeing continued progress, it only makes sense the Red Sox are expected to have one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball.

However, they might have to outdo themselves in order to overtake the Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees and Houston Astros.