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Red Sox 2017 Schedule

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In Red Sox Nation we’re still in the throes of the 2016 campaign, but for many baseball fans the mood is more “we’ll get ’em next year.” Now, it’s clear how next year will unfold with Major League Baseball’s official announcement of the 2017 schedule.

Baseball returns in 2017 on Sunday, April 2, exactly 200 days from this writing. The opening slates will be under the domes with the Yankees at Rays and the Giants at Diamondbacks, and a third game for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (teams to be determined).

Opening Day at Fenway

On Opening Day, Monday, April 3, there will be 13 games played including an Interleague match-up at Fenway between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Red Sox. As is often the case, the Sox will follow their first game with an off-day before completing the 3-game set on Thursday. They’ll then trade Frozen Fenway for chilly Detroit and a four-game matchup against the Tigers, before returning to Boston for division games against the Orioles and the Rays.

The Opening Day home games are the first for the Red Sox in six seasons.

First World Series Rematch

For two teams with such long, storied histories—the Bucs, which date back to 1882, have played over 20,400 games, the Sox have played 18,007 games since 1901 as of this writing—Opening Day will be just their 13th match-up in regular season play.

The Opening Week series will be the second Boston trip all-time for the Pirates, whose only other visit to Fenway was for three games on June 17-19, 2005. The Red Sox have played in Pittsburgh nine times, most recently on September 18, 2014.

In all, Pittsburgh leads Boston, 7-games-to-5.

In the postseason, Boston and Pittsburgh have met just once, in the first World Series in 1903. The Boston Americans, the 1901-07 forerunners of the Red Sox, beat the Pirates 5-games-to-3 in the best of nine competition, with Boston coming back to win the final four games to capture the first of their eight titles.

Fans on the field at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, 1903 World Series


Fans on the field at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, 1903 World Series
flickr photo shared by Boston Public Library under a Creative Commons ( BY ) license

For Boston, the 1903 series featured Hall of Famers Cy Young and Jimmy Collins as well as Buck Freeman, the player we’ve discussed once before, who was Boston’s first ever to hit for the cycle, earlier that season.

Rest of the Season

The Red Sox have the most number of home games in April and September (15 each) and the fewest in July (11). They’ll play 76 games versus the American League East, with 19 games each against the Yankees, Orioles, Blue Jays, and Rays. Boston will play more games at Yankee Stadium and Oriole Park at Camden Yards (10 each) than any other road venue.

For games against the National League, the Red Sox will host the Cubs (April 28-30), Cardinals (August 15-16), and Phillies (June 12-13) and visit the Brewers (May 9-11), Cardinals (May 16-17), Phillies (June 14-15), and Reds (September 22-24) in 2017 Interleague games.

Other Dates for 2017

The last day of the 2017 season will come on Sunday, October 1. MLB also announced dates for Jackie Robinson Day (Saturday, April 15), the first day of the MLB Draft (Monday, June 12), and the All-Star events (Sunday through Tuesday, July 9 through 11) at Marlins Park in Miami. The 2017 All-Star Game is the first time the Midsummer Classic will be played in Florida.


Sox Fall Short in Home Opener

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It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Monday’s Red Sox Home Opener at Fenway, the club’s 116th such game and the 105th at Fenway, had the feeling of one of those great Sox games.

In a back-and-forth affair all day, it finally felt as though momentum had tipped towards the Sox heading into the 9th inning with star closer Craig Kimbrel taking the mound. But it wasn’t meant to be. Kimbrel did what he hadn’t done in 357 previous relief appearances: he gave up a three-run home run.

In fact, entering today’s action, the four-time All-Star reliever had allowed just 18 total home runs over his six MLB seasons. Fourteen of the 18 were solo shots, just four were for two runs. Never more than that.

Just one out from finishing the inning with a tie, Orioles slugger Chris Davis took Kimbrel deep—very deep—into center field, absolutely stunning the Fenway faithful.

To add insult to the injury, Mookie Betts, who enjoyed a 3-for-5 day at home, led off the bottom of the 9th with a solo blast over the Green Monster. It should have been a walk off win, but now it still left Boston looking for at least two more. It was electric as Dustin Pedroia singled and Xander Bogaerts walked.

With no outs, David Ortiz strode to the plate, “the set up for a dramatic moment,” Manager John Farrell recalled after the game. Already 2-for-5 with an RBI, Ortiz would ground into a double play before Hanley Ramirez struck out to end the game.

Wild Ride

Rather than fight from behind, the Red Sox got off to an early lead Monday, tagging Orioles starter Yovani Gallardo for three quick runs in the 1st inning. With David Price for the Red Sox, how much more would Boston need? As it turned out, more than they could muster.

The Orioles muscled across five quick runs in the top of the third, buoyed by a three-run HR off the bat of Mark Trumbo. In all, Price would allow five earned runs on five hits. In 219 career games, it was Price’s 28th allowing 5 ER. Price is 6-22 in such games.

Afterwards Price admitted he didn’t execute, but was proud of the team effort that kept the Sox in the game. “After I gave up the five-spot in the third, I knew if I could just hold them there, don’t give them anymore, we were going to battle back. We were going to score more runs, but it just didn’t happen today,” Price said.

What you have to like about the 2016 club is their willingness to keep fighting back. Down two in the 4th inning, Boston tied the game. When Baltimore took the a one-run lead in the 6th, the Sox countered with another run of their own to re-knot the game. The tie stayed in place until the disappointing 9th inning.

The Orioles improved to 6-0 on the young season, a new club record. It was their 11th win in a row dating back to last September.


Sox shut out in series finale

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Early season Red Sox offensive power ran into Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada Sunday and the result was Boston’s first shut out loss of the season.

Estrada pitched 7.0 strong innings, allowing five hits but no runs with two walks and eight strikeouts. The Blue Jays’ bullpen, their weak underbelly, proved sharp Sunday, allowing no Red Sox hits over 2.0 innings, including a third save of the season for youngster Roberto Osuna, who struck out the side to end the game. Osuna was the youngest player of all major league teams on Opening Day this year.

Sunday’s was the 25th Blue Jays shut out of the Red Sox in both franchises’ history, the first since May 8, 2015, also at the Rogers Centre. The Jays win avoided their first 3-game home losing streak since August 24-26, 2014. It also ended a string of four straight losses to the Sox, their longest such streak since losing five in a row to Boston in 2010.

Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright survived a rocky start after allowing two first-inning runs (one earned). Those would be his only runs allowed, settling down to go deep into the game. Wright threw a career-high 118 pitches finishing the day with 6.2 innings of work, with six hits and three walks allowed and five strikeouts. Noe Ramirez, working in relief pitched the remaining 1.1 innings, but allowed a Josh Donaldson home run, his second of the weekend series including Friday’s grand slam.

Boston got another three hit performance (including a first double of the season) from Hanley Ramirez, who continued to look defensively just fine at first base.

Mookie Betts, off to a slow start, was 0-for-4 Sunday, his AVG slipping to .130 at the start of the young season. Travis Shaw saw his nine game hitting streak dating back to last year end Sunday, going 0-for-2 with two walks.

Friendly Fenway

The Red Sox head home for the chilly home opener Monday afternoon. They’ll face the Orioles, who have opened the season impressively at 5-0 to be the only undefeated time in baseball. Yovani Gallardo is scheduled to go for Baltimore. He owns a 1-0, 1.80 ERA record in his one start of 2016. Against the Red Sox he’s 2-2 with a 4.35 ERA over four career starts.

It will be David Price for the Red Sox. He’s 8-4 with a 2.65 ERA in 19 career appearances, all starts, against Baltimore. Price is 6-1 with a 1,95 ERA in 11 career starts at Fenway Park.

Price said he’s looking forward to the holiday-like atmosphere of Fenway’s opening day. “To get to throw the home opener in my second start,” he said, “will be very exciting.”

Last season the Red Sox were 43-38 (.531) at Fenway, 9th of 15 American League teams. Since 2000, Boston has gone 753-543 for a home win percentage of .581, 3rd best in the AL and 5th best in baseball.


Sunday Morning Odds ‘n Ends

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A few thoughts at the end of this first week of the 2016 Major League season:

  1. At the top of every Sox fan’s mind has to be what happens after David Price each week? During a weather shortened first week of play, Red Sox Nation held their breath as, one by one, Red Sox starters exhibited little more than mediocrity. Clay Buchholz tossed up five runs in just 4.0 of work Wednesday, Joe Kelly was even worse, allowing seven runs in 3.0 IP Friday. Rick Porcello managed to keep it together for 6.0 innings, but his penchant for the giving up long balls was on display Saturday, albeit to Jays powerhouse Jose Bautista. It’s just one start for each of these, but increasingly we’re going to want to get Eduardo Rodriguez back and for baseball president Dave Dombrowski to seek the trade that can bring consistency to this lineup.
  2. For all the problems of starters not named Price, the Red Sox bullpen has been outstanding, even without Carson Smith, who is set to throw a bullpen session Sunday. What’s more, the Sox offense has been impressive, too. On Friday, in his 3rd game of the season, Brock Holt matched his home run production in 129 games of 2015. Holt’s grand slam brought the Sox back from what seemed certain defeat to overcome a 5-run deficit and win the game.
  3. The Red Sox have scored six or more runs in their first four games of the season for the first time since April 26-30, 1995. Since 1913, Boston has started a season just once with five games of six or more runs, on April 8-14, 1985. On Sunday they can tie that record.
  4. 82 Major Leaguers from the Dominican Republic accounted for the greatest percentage of players on Opening Day rosters that were born outside the US. DR’s dominance has been unequaled every year since MLB began releasing such data in 1995. Of the 238 players born outside the US, 63 hailed from Venezuela, the country ranked second on the list, followed by Cuba with 23 players. The Mariners have the most foreign-born players, with 13 on the roster from five different countries.
  5. More roster analysis: 93 rookies made up the 864 players on Opening Day rosters. The Brewers have the most (9), the White Sox and Nationals have none. For the Red Sox, it’s just Noe Ramirez so far this season. Though no longer rookies, the Sox have their fair share of accomplished youngsters. At 24, Blake Swihart became the Sox’ youngest Opening Day catcher this week since Rich Gedman (23 in 1983). Also on Wednesday, Mookie Betts, 23, was the youngest Day One right fielder since Phil Plantier (also 23 in 1993), and Xander Bogaerts became one of just seven Boston players since 1913 to start three Opening Days at age 23 or younger, a list that includes Hall of Famers Bobby Doerr, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Carl Yastrzemski.
  6. David Ortiz tied Rico Petrocelli for 6th on the Red Sox all-time list for Opening Day starts this past week. It was the 14th overall Opening Day start in Big Papi’s long career, and his 13th time opening at Designated Hitter, surpassing the 12-year record of Don Baylor for the all-time record at that position. Dustin Pedroia celebrated his 10th Opening Day at second base this season. The only Boston player with a longer Opening Day streak at a single position was Yastrzemski, who opened at left field for 12 years.
  7. With two more this past week, the Astros Carlos Correa has collected 25 home runs over his first 101 career games. That’s the quickest route to 25 HRs by a shortstop in MLB history, surpassing the 134 games it took Nomar Garciaparra in 1996-97.
  8. Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw were the only two pitchers last season with more than 60 three-pitch strikeouts. Rick Porcello had the most on the Red Sox staff (27).
  9. Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester this week became the first pair of Cubs pitchers to open a season with 7.0+ innings pitched and one or fewer runs allowed since Mike Morgan and Jose Guzman did so to start 1993. For the Red Sox, Lester had four Opening Day appearances: 2011: 5.1 IP, 6 hits, 5 runs; 2012: 7.0 IP, 6 hits, 1 run; 2013: 5.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs; and 2014: 7.0 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs.

Sox Season Starts with Win

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Opening Day 2016There’s simply no better way to start a campaign than with a win. And that’s what we got today, Opening Day 2016, with the Red Sox beating the Indians 6-2 in the start to Boston’s 116th American League season.

The game, postponed from Monday for the cold (the first postponement for the Red Sox on Opening Day since 2009), actually delivered a couple wins for Red Sox fans.

Of course, there’s the score, the only thing that matters. But surely the performance of new Sox ace David Price lived up to its billing. Price earned his first win of the season throwing 103 pitches and allowing two runs on five hits with two walks. He struck out 10.

With Tuesday’s start Price became the first Red Sox pitcher to make his debut with the club in an Opening Day start since David Wells in 2005. And with the win he joined Pedro Martinez (1998), Gary Peters (1970), Dick Ellsworth (1968) and Jim Bagby (1938) as the only five pitchers with a win in their Red Sox debut as an Opening Day starter.

Call the Sox bullpen winners today, too, for a hit-free 3.0 inning performance. Junichi Tazawa opened the 7th, followed by Koji Uehara in his new 8th inning slot, and the debut of new closer Craig Kimbrel.

In all, Red Sox pitchers struck out 15, their most since at least 1913 in an Opening Day game.

David Ortiz, already a double under his belt with the Sox up 4-2 in the 9th inning, hit career home run #504, his fifth ever Opening Day roundtripper and his first to start a season since 2011. The Sox also got two hits apiece from Mookie Betts (including a home run), Brock Holt, Hanley Ramirez, and Travis Shaw (including three strikeouts). Boston’s 11 hits were their most on Opening Day since April 1, 2013 (13).

Dustin Pedroia, who leads all active players with a .421 AVG on Opening Day (minimum 35 plate appearances in openers), ended his Day One hitting streak Tuesday going 0-for-4 with a walk and run scored. Pedroia had hit in all nine career Opening Days since 2007, the longest such streak in club history since Carl Yastrzemski’s 13 Opening Day games from 1968-1980.