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It is not about how you start, right? The Boston Red Sox are hoping that is the case for the first month of the long and winding Major League Baseball season. Following Wednesday’s series-closing win at the Minnesota Twins, Boston kicks off a challenging seven-game homestand against the surging Detroit Tigers on Friday night. The four-game set extends through Monday’s traditional 11:05 a.m. start on the Patriots’ Day holiday in Massachusetts. “We’re (three) weeks into the season, and we feel like we haven’t played anywhere close to our best baseball. And it could be way worse,” shortstop Trevor Story said. “Once we get rolling and once we get to doing the things that we know we can do on a

Craig Albernaz spent plenty of time in the home manager’s office during the last two seasons as a coach with the Cleveland Guardians. Now managing the Baltimore Orioles, he is spending this weekend in the other clubhouse while going against his longtime friend, Cleveland skipper Stephen Vogt. Orioles right-hander Chris Bassitt (0-2, 9.00 ERA) takes on Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee (0-2, 6.38) in the second game of the four-game series on Friday. “We used to say it to each other all the time in the past two years: Can you believe they let us do this?” Albernaz said. “And if you had told me Vogty and I would be managing together, I would say you were out of your mind.

The New York Yankees encountered warmer weather and trouble preventing pitches from leaving their home ballpark during their last series. After allowing 13 homers in their previous four games, the Yankees hope to make better pitches Friday night when they host the Kansas City Royals in the opener of a three-game series. The Yankees allowed three homers through their first 15 games, including their first homestand, which was played in temperatures under 60 degrees. Against the Angels, the average game-time temperature was 82 degrees and the Yankees settled for a four-game split. New York earned a pair of wins in the ninth inning and hit nine homers. Aaron Judge hit four homers in the series but those were not enough

In a battle of teams off to strong starts, the Tampa Bay Rays will carry a six-game winning streak into the opener of an interleague three-game set against the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday. Veteran right-hander Nick Martinez (0-0, 2.16 ERA) will try to extend the Rays’ winning surge to seven in a row when they face the improved Pirates and rookie right-hander Bubba Chandler (0-1, 3.86). The Rays rallied with three runs in the ninth inning on Thursday to complete their first three-game road sweep of the Chicago White Sox since 2019. This feat came on the heels of Tampa Bay’s first home sweep of the New York Yankees since 2018. The Rays have been finding different ways to