The Boston Red Sox must shock the world to win it all in 2020.
MLB.com’s Will Leitch and Mike Petriello ranked the Red Sox No. 11 on their list of World Series favorites Saturday. Most Major League Baseball observers believe Boston dented its World Series hopes by trading Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this month, but Leitch and Petriello believe doing so hasn’t eliminated the Boston as a potential World Series winner.
“This is where I give a shout-out to you and Matt Meyers’ excellent Statcast podcast, which I listened to while eating lunch and got me sold on the idea that the Red Sox shouldn’t just be written off — though you did say that before the Betts trade,” Leitch wrote. “They still have studs like Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez, the rotation has a stud of its own, and they’re, you know, still the Red Sox.”
Oddsmakers already had pegged the Red Sox as World Series longshots prior to the trade and they extended Boston’s title odds further after reports of the deal emerged in the media. Furthermore, ESPN projected the Red Sox’s chances of winning the World Series at just 4.6 percent last month before the Red Sox-Dodgers trade. ESPN undoubtedly will lower Boston’s World Series chances when it revises its MLB projections. By ranking the Red Sox No. 11, Leitch and Petrioello seemingly air a more optimistic view of Boston’s hopes than the ESPN’s and oddsmakers’.
The Red Sox are just four-plus games into their Grapefruit League schedule. They’ll begin their regular-season slate March 26 in Toronto against the Blue Jays.
