Red Sox Are Again A .500 Team—With 160 To Go

After two games of the 2025 season, the Red Sox find themselves in a familiar place: .500. It begs the question: Is this team really as good as the hype around it? 

After all, despite wining on Opening Day, they struck out 12 times—reminiscent of the "WhiffFest of 2024". Moreover, starting pitching (the big overhaul of the off-season) has been, well, just OK. In Game Two, Tanner Houck was hardly the "ground-ball" pitcher he's supposed to be—giving up two long balls in the loss. And, Rafael Devers seems lost at the plate, struggling with his new DH role.

However, the bottom line is that this Red Sox team is much better than the 2024 edition, by almost every metric. They're younger, they're better defensively, they at least have a legitimate ace in Garrett Crochet, and the rest of the AL East is just about their equal (that is, mediocre). 

All things considered, though, this is still not a 95-win team. My guess is 86-88 wins, tops. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.