(Photo by Nick Grace/Getty Images)
Despite losing some key pieces in free agency last offseason, the Boston Red Sox came into the 2023 season with a chip on their shoulder, ready to prove the naysayers wrong.
The team busted out for 27 runs over the weekend against the Baltimore Orioles and took two out of three to start the season.
They’ll now prepare for a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
But outfielder Alex Verdugo isn’t surprised by this at all.
In fact, Verdugo is very confident in what the Red Sox have and believes that despite the fact that many are counting them out, the team is confident and believes it can do some damage in 2023.
Alex Verdugo via @SmittyOnMLB:
“They want to count us out. They wanted to say we were going to be last in our division. But we don’t feel that way. We like our team.”
2023 Red Sox have a serious chip on their shoulder. pic.twitter.com/tvxVA3oW5K
— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) April 2, 2023
Boston reached the postseason in 2021 as a Wild Card team and made a surprise run to the ALCS.
They couldn’t follow that up with more success in 2022, finishing at the bottom of the AL East.
But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t expecting big things in 2023.
Stars such as Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, Michael Wacha, and Nathan Eovaldi all departed via free agency.
However, the additions of Justin Turner, Masataka Yoshida, Adam Duvall, Corey Kluber, and Kenley Jansen have the team feeling good about where things stand early in the season.
Boston made an early statement by taking two out of three from a young, upstart Orioles club that is looking to prove that their 2022 success was no fluke.
The Red Sox are out to prove that 2022 was simply a blip on the radar screen and that they have what it takes to be a contender in 2023.
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