Here's a sentence that should make you feel better about the 2019 Boston Red Sox: If their season began on April 24, they'd be the best team in the American League.
The Red Sox cruised to an 11-4 win over the Detroit Tigers on that day nearly two full weeks ago. Since then, they've put their early April struggles behind them by setting MLB on fire.
Consider this: Over its past 11 games, Boston leads the AL in win percentage and runs per game in addition to leading baseball in five other categories.
It's admittedly a small sample size, and all eight of those wins came against sub-.500 teams in the Tigers, Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox.
But the Red Sox desperately needed this stretch after they lost 13 of their first 19 games. The issues that plagued the Sox during their World Series hangover -- atrocious starting pitching and inconsistent offense -- have dissipated over the last 11 days thanks to the efforts of Boston's biggest stars (Chris Sale, Xander Bogaerts) and unlikely heroes (rookie Michael Chavis).
The result? If the Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night, they'll move to .500 for the first time since Game 2 and could move to within four games of the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East.
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