This Boston Red Sox team has the potential to be special.
Christian Vazquez already has pointed this out a couple of times early this season, especially in comparison to the 2018 squad. J.D. Martinez agrees.
The designated hitter, who is off to perhaps the hottest start on the entire team, is liking the Red Sox's vibe so far this season. He, too, has likened the 2021 team to Boston's most recent World Series-champion roster.
"(There are) some similarities," Martinez told reporters during his pregame video press conference. "I mean, that 2018 team was a special team, that's a tough team to compete against. But this is a very good team. I feel like we have a very good camaraderie with the guys.
"... In 2018, I always measured our games by, 'OK, when could we have won the game? Did we get that opportunity? Did that opportunity come?' And it was, like, every day in 2018 -- whether it was in the first inning or the fifth inning or the ninth inning -- we always had that chance to win the game, to really separate ourselves. And I feel like, with this team, I feel those opportunities coming. Last night, we were in the game the whole day. The one before, we were in the game the whole time."
Martinez has experienced that feeling more than once this season, too.
"Every game this season, I feel like we've always had a chance -- whether when we've won or when we've lost -- to really just have that one hit, that one play that really changes the game and that's kind of how I measure our teams. Last year, I feel like we didn't have that. Last year, I feel like we were out of the game before as soon as the game started or in the third inning, I feel like we were just kind of playing catchup the whole time. This year, it feels a lot more, in that aspect, like 2018."
Perhaps Martinez and Vazquez are on to something.
