It takes time for any Major League Baseball club with a slew of new faces to build chemistry over the course of the season.
Unfortunately for the Red Sox, who dealt with quite a bit of roster changeover this past offseason, both the time and opportunities to strengthen their collective bond are limited.
The 2020 MLB campaign, as we know, will be abbreviated to 60 games before the postseason commences. Assembling club cohesion over that short of a span is a challenge in its own regard, but even more so when you factor in the restrictions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Xander Bogaerts opened up about the difficulties of the situation prior to the Red Sox’s series finale against the New York Yankees on Sunday.
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“I think that’s been the hardest part,” Bogaerts said. “We’ve had so many new guys coming in. And it’s been kind of hard for us to blend together because you build on chemistry and team bonding and stuff like that. But now everything is spaced to be kind of the opposite of that. Try to be distanced and be far. Obviously we know we’re dealing with a pretty serious situation here. So we’ve just got to stick to the protocols and try to be as safe as possible. But that’s definitely one of the hardest parts: not being able to talk to your coaches. Have some fun stories and memories that you have, you’ll be talking with a mask on. You’ll be like, ‘Hey, what are you saying? What are you saying?’ four times. So it’s kind of tough.”
Bogaerts continued: “Especially with a lot of guys coming in. This is a tough city. This is a city that always expects to win and an organization that has winning as its top priority. It’s been hard and obviously we can’t do much to make these guys comfortable, to be honest. Because stuff that we normally do, as I said, everything is spaced out to be distant and not close on each other. It’s hard, man. It’s hard. Sometimes I kind of feel for guys from the other organizations that come here for the first time because there’s no team dinners. There’s none of that going on.”
The Red Sox, losers of three straight, will look to get back on track Tuesday night when they open a two-game set against the Rays in Tampa Bay.
