We’re one week away from Opening Day in Major League Baseball. The Red Sox will begin the season next Thursday, March 29, with a four-game series in Tampa Bay. Every team in the league opens on the same day for the first time since 1968, and it will go down as the earliest Opening Day in a Major League park in history. And as we get closer to the opener, the more we’ll look at Alex Cora’s Opening Day lineup. Chris Sale has already been named the starter. That shouldn’t come as a shock.
Last weekend, Cora put out a Spring Training lineup that was about as close as you’re going to get to the real thing. He had Mookie Betts leading off, Andrew Benintendi hitting second, Hanley Ramirez at first base and hitting third, J.D. Martinez at DH and hitting fourth, Xander Bogaerts hitting fifth, Rafael Devers hitting sixth, Eduardo Nunez hitting seventh, Jackie Bradley Jr hitting eighth, and Sandy Leon hitting ninth. I would prefer Christian Vazquez behind the plate instead of Leon. But if this is what the Red Sox will be going with, I’d also rather see Devers hitting fifth instead of Bogaerts. It’s too early to get worked up about the lineup though, so let’s just be grateful that the season is almost here.
-That also means the NBA and Stanley Cup playoffs are right around the corner. And right now, both the Celtics and Bruins are dealing with some serious injuries. Both teams will be in their respective playoffs when they begin next month. But only one has a chance to survive without their top dog. And that’s the Bruins. That’s not to say I think the B’s would actually win the Stanley Cup without Patrice Bergeron, who’s still out with a foot injury, but the Bruins definitely have a better chance to make a serious playoff run than the Celtics do if Kyrie Irving can’t return from his knee injury.
Even if Irving returns, there’s still no guarantee that the C’s would be able to beat, let’s say, the Cleveland Cavaliers. But in the Stanley Cup playoffs, it’s a different beast. All it really takes is for Tuukka Rask to get hot at the right time, and the B’s will be contenders. We’ll have to see how the injuries play out, but right now, both the Celtics and Bruins are hoping their best player will return in time for the playoffs in just a few weeks.
-The Patriots are proving my “business as usual” theory to be true. I wrote last week in my column for The Boston Metro that the losses of Malcolm Butler, Dion Lewis, Danny Amendola, and Nate Solder to free agency was nothing more than just Bill Belichick doing Bill Belichick things. Belichick puts a certain value on a player, and he’s not going to go above and beyond that number, even if another team is willing to up the ante. And that’s exactly what happened with Butler, Lewis, Amendola, and Solder last week.
Some people panicked. And I admitted that this offseason definitely had a different feel to it, and not necessarily a “good” different. But once the smoke cleared, I tried to convince everyone that the Patriots had a plan, because, well, they always do. And what you’ve seen with some of the Patriots’ trades and signings in recent days is exactly what I was talking about. They traded for veteran cornerback Jason McCourty, who’ll make $3 million next year. They also traded for explosive kick returner and wideout Cordarrelle Patterson, who’ll make $3.5 million next season. And they signed running back Jeremy Hill to a one-year, $1.5 million deal, and defensive end Adrian Clayborn to a two-year, $12 million deal. I think the Clayborn signing will have the biggest impact, as he led the Atlanta Falcons in sacks and quarterback hits last year. But ultimately, the Patriots brought in those four players for a lot less than it would have cost to bring back Butler, Lewis, Amendola, and Solder. It’s part of The Patriot Way. And regardless of what type of cryptic messages Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady want to send on social media, I still believe that it works.
-Have they started the investigation on Virginia’s loss to UMBC yet? Finally, a 16-seed defeated a 1-seed. But UMBC didn’t just beat Virginia, UMBC beat Virginia by 20. To give you an idea of how absurd that actually is, Virginia was a 20.5-point favorite in that game. And yet, they lost by 20. That’s not shocking. That’s shady.
The NCAA is corrupt. We all know that. And I’m not trying to tell you that I have specific evidence of any corruption here. But there’s a reason why a 16-seed had never defeated a 1-seed until now. And again, not only did a 16-seed defeat a 1-seed, it defeated a 1-seed by 20 freaking points. I’m sorry, but there’s something fishy about that.
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