It’s fun because it’s silly, because it’s juvenile, and because it’s utterly unnecessary. I love that they’ve spent time figuring this thing out – you do this, and you do this and I’ll do this, no wait let’s try it this way, and on and on – time which has been spent together, working as friends.

Winning baseball is fun. Any team that wins is fun. And this 2017 Red Sox team wins, so by definition they are fun. But this team is more than fun-because-they-win fun. This team is straight up roller-coaster milk-coming-out-your-nose yelling-out-the-moon-roof-of-a-moving-car fun, and the outfield dance is only one reason. Here are many, many others.

1. Anytime anyone tries to hit a ball past Dustin Pedroia.
2. Chili Davis. On one end of the cool cat scale you have former Yankees catcher Brian McCann, who probably dresses like an old timey school marm and hits puppies with sticks for fun. On the other end of the cool cat scale you have Chili Davis, who plays jazz trumpet in clubs until 4am and will chat you up long after that. Does he really play jazz trumpet in clubs after games? Who knows, but metaphorically speaking absolutely.
3. Hanley. The Red Sox drafted him and then they dealt him away. That happens. Baseball is a business. But through all that, through two other organizations and a literal decade of time, dude still felt an attachment to Boston and wanted to come back. I’ll never forget that. Also he’s a total goofball whose helmet needs to be crazy-glued to his hair. We should get a Kickstarter rolling for that.
4. Hanley’s homers. GOOD GOD Y’ALL, those things GO. When he gets a hold of one it’s a sight to see. I tell ya, A SIGHT TO SEE!
5. You know what’s fun? Stuff that is exciting! And you know what’s exciting? Any time the Red Sox get a base runner! Will he steal? Maybe! Will he be thrown out at home by 30 feet? Maybe! Exciting! Fun!
6. Andrew Benintendi’s hair.
7. Andrew Benintendi’s swing.
8. Andrew Benintendi.
9. You know how when Mookie stands in the batter’s box and glares back at the pitcher his lip does this little curl thing, kinda like Elvis Presley used to do? I love that.
10. Craig Kimbrel is striking out more than half the batters he’s faced this season. He’s at 51.8 percent right now! Exclamation point! Vomit! YELLING! Fifty-one point eight perWHAT! AHHHHHHH! That’s a lot is what I’m saying.
11. So this kid who is 20 years old was playing for Salem, Virginia in the Carolina League last season and now he’s the starting third baseman for the Red Sox and he’s always smiling like that time he smiled after he turned around a 103 mph fastball from Aroldis Chapman and tied the game in ninth inning. That was a smile!
12. Joe Kelly’s velocity readings are fun!
13. Joe Kelly’s great stuff is funny because it’s not real, which is fun!
14. You know how the Yankees aren’t doing great and are always mad and they are paying Aroldis Chapman a lot of money to be awful? That’s not directly related to the Red Sox but it sure is fun anyway!
15. The standings! You should look at them sometime. They are great fun.
16. Mookie sometimes fools fielders and thieves bases from them.
17. Jackie’s defense. Have you ever seen him miss a ball? Like, ever?
18. Sandy Leon and his occasional magic. You never see it coming and then POW! Right in the kisser!
19. Brandon Workman last pitched in the majors in 2014. You know who started the most games for that team? Jon Lester, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz, Jake Peavy, Rubby De La Rosa, and Workman. That’s a long time ago! Then Workman got hurt and rehabbed and then he got hurt again and rehabbed and his rehab didn’t take and he had to start and stop and start and stop and start and stop again. Poor guy as recently as this season was throwing 87 in the minors and getting lit up. Now he’s back in the mid-90s and looking like a worthwhile piece of a major league bullpen. That’s persistence. That’s perseverance. That’s impressive. Also, remember that time he batted in the World Series? Less fun, that.
20. Addison Reed will probably help eventually!
21. Eduardo Nunez: How bad must the Giants have been that they couldn’t win with this guy?
22. Remember that time Doug Fister looked like Chris Sale? That was fun! (We’ll ignore the time Chris Sale looked like Doug Fister.)
23. Robby Scott might not be your favorite Red Sox, but he’s one of mine. Remember Daniel Nava? Scott is the reliever version of Nava. Like Nava, Scott went undrafted and started his career in pro ball only Scott played for the Yuma Scorpions of the independent league where he was teammates with Jose and Ozzie Canseco. It’s like wanting to be a baseball player and the only job available was with the circus. He almost quit baseball to become a teacher, which considering his circumstances, made perfect sense. But now he’s in a major league bullpen!
24. Fenway Park. I don’t care that the seats are small and everything costs a fortune. Okay, I care, but the point is that’s the place Ruth played, where Williams and Yaz and Ortiz all made their names. It’s worth it, it’s worth every bit of it. Fenway is on the top of any list of major league ballparks because it’s living history, but also because it’s damn beautiful right now. Really, it’s at the top of any list of pro sports stadiums that you have to visit. It’s the best.
25. Fernando Abad has been okay!
26. Rick Porcello’s immaculate inning. Remember that?! That was crazy!
27. Rafael Devers’ triple play. Remember that?!? That was crazy!
28. Unexpected stuff is lots of fun, when it’s good, and Porcello’s 2016 was exactly that. Drew Pomeranz has taken up where Rick Porcello’s 2016 season left off. Pomeranz has been as valuable as Jose Quintana and Jake Arrieta by BP’s metrics, and as valuable as Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander by Baseball Reference. Pomeranz has been what the Red Sox thought they were getting when they signed David Price. He’s been that good.
29. Chris Young’s weird short-armed swing is so weird. How does he hit the ball? I don’t know!
30. Chris Sale has over 253 strikeouts which coincidentally is the same number of times I would strike out against Chris Sale were I to bat against him 253 times.
31. Heath Hembree’s hair. It’s like he saw the movie Coming To America where Eddie Murphy’s character wears soul glow hair goop and thought, yeah, that’s what I want.
32. Have you seen those embarrassing high school pictures the relievers (probably Joe Kelly) have hung in the bullpen? They’re hilarious!

This is only a partial list. There’s also Brian Johnson’s complete game five-hitter against the Mariners in May, Tzu-Wei Lin getting three hits in a 15-1 win over the Blue Jays, and of course, that time Deven Marrero hit two homers in the same game off Jose Quintana. It really does go on and on with this team. They are a ton of fun, and that will be true whether they go out meekly in the first round, or win the World Series. Even after a spanking from Cleveland, I look forward to the next Red Sox game. Fun times are good.

Photo by Ken Blaze – USA TODAY Sports

Going Deep

The Red Sox have two starting pitchers, Eduardo Rodriguez and Joe Kelly, set to return from stints on the disabled list. Jason Mastrodonato of The Boston Herald notes that Rodriguez will make at least one more rehab start in the minor leagues, and could be given more time in the minors if he still has rust to shake off. When he and Kelly are set to return, they will necessitate a shuffling of the deck in the rotation.

David Price is keeping his spot. Price’s 6.14 ERA is ugly, but it is largely driven by uncharacteristically high BABIP (.362) and low left-on-base rate (57.3). His 2.88 FIP indicates he has been much better. Also, he is David Price. Clay Buchholz is maddeningly frustrating, but despite silly comparisons of him to John Danks, he has the ability to rip off a stretch of solid outings and should get the chance to do so. Rick Porcello seems to have sorted out his 2015 problems and while his 2.76 ERA is likely to rise, his 3.59 FIP is better than league average and a mark we will take.

That leaves two spots for Steven Wright, Henry Owens, Rodriguez and Kelly. While Wright throws an unpredictable pitch, making him difficult to project, he has pitched too well (1.67 ERA, 3.22 FIP) and too consistently (at least 6 innings per start with fewer than three runs each time) to demote. That, and he is out of options, so any demotion to the minor leagues comes with the risk of losing him to another club. Owens remains a work in progress, whose performance (seven walks in 9.1 innings) this season has not really convinced anyone he is ready for a spot in the big league rotation. Barring an injury in the interim, I think a rotation of Price, Buchholz, Porcello, Rodriguez and Wright will be best going forward. Ultimately, this sends Owens back to Pawtucket with Joe Kelly in tow. That is if the team remains determined to use Kelly as a starter. If not, they can (finally) convert him to a reliever, thereby adding another hard throwing option to the ‘pen.

Carson Smith, one of the Red Sox’s major offseason acquisitions, was activated from the disabled list on Tuesday night. Smith provides another weapon to use in high leverage spots and should help John Farrell distribute the workload more effectively. Smith throws from a sidearm/three-quarter arm slot that, as Tim Britton of The Providence Journal notes, is unique for a pitcher of Smith’s height. Smith’s low release point is something that can lead to a large platoon split, but his career split is fairly typical and, regardless, he gets both righties (.199 TAv) and lefties (.219 TAv) out at an excellent rate.

Having a weapon of Smith’s caliber looming might lead to a pattern of overuse, but Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reports that John Farrell is aware of the need to ease Smith into things and that the team will likely carry an extra pitcher for a week or two to ensure they are covered. Once he is back to full strength, having Smith mixed in with Craig Kimbrel, Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa as the high-leverage group, Tommy Layne in a LOOGY role, and Robbie Ross Jr. and Matt Barnes (or Heath Hembree) as low-leverage guys, will make this bullpen formidable. Moreover, if the team wants to run an 8-man relief unit, then, as noted above, I can certainly find a spot out there for Joe Kelly.

Quick Hits

The Red Sox closed out the month of April with a 14-10 record (+21 run differential), half a game behind the Orioles for top spot in the AL East. Ian Browne of MLB.com has an interesting look at the up-and-down month the team had last month. Digging in on a more granular level, Chad Finn of Boston.com evaluates each player on the roster, determining who has exceeded expectations, who has performed to expectations, and who has underwhelmed us thus far.

One player who Finn has in the exceeding expectations category is Travis Shaw. Amidst all of the Pablo Sandoval controversy, Shaw has hit in the middle of the lineup (.303 TAv) and has handled his defensive duties at third base admirably. Tim Britton of The Providence Journal notes that Shaw has worked hard on his defense at third base, specifically developing the ability to go to his backhand.

Through 26 games the Red Sox best player by wins above replacement player has been Xander Bogaerts. He is a rock at shortstop and has handled hitting at the top of the lineup well, maintaining a .300-plus batting average (.304), while increasing both his on-base (.372) and slugging (.431) percentages from his 2015 marks (.355/.421). Alex Speier of The Boston Globe provides more insight into the awesomeness that is Xander.

Prior to his strong outing on Wednesday night, Clay Buchholz has been miserable this season. In a rare moment of specificity, John Farrell commented on Buchholz’s need for improvement. Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald writes that Buchholz received his manager’s message and is working hard to be better, but wants to avoid putting too much pressure on himself, as that can lead to unintended negative outcomes.

The Red Sox offense has been a force thus far. They have generated the most runs in the American League (135) and as a group have posted the league’s second best TAv (.268) behind only the Tigers (.273). Tim Britton writes that hitting coach Chili Davis is owed a lot of the credit for the team’s excellent offensive performance through the first month of the schedule.

Three Good Game Stories

The Sox capped their series sweep over the Yankees with a thrilling comeback victory on Sunday night that featured Christian Vazquez homering off of Dellin Betances. Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe has more on the game and Vazquez’s big hit.

Steven Wright had another solid start on Tuesday night, but the bullpen faltered and the offense could not solve Jose Quintana, as the Red Sox fell to the White Sox in Chicago. Peter Abraham outlines how a tip from David Price after the first inning helped Wright regain his release point.

Jason Mastrodonato notes that a shuffled lineup worked well for the Red Sox in their 5-2 win over the White Sox on Wednesday night. David Ortiz hit the 509^th home run of his career, Xander Bogaerts got on base four times, and Clay Buchholz quieted, at least temporarily, the calls for his demotion.

Photo by Mike Dinovo/USA Today Sports Images

Going Deep

Over at WEEI, Rob Bradford talks about how the pitching this year has been nothing short of abysmal when facing AL East opponents. The Red Sox are a combined 10-22 against the other four teams in the division, and while that puts some blame on the offense as well, there have been notable pitching disasters against teams like Toronto and Baltimore. When you’re facing guys like Josh Donaldson, Adam Jones and Evan Longoria consistently throughout the year, your pitching has to be up to the task, and so far, the Red Sox staff has failed considerably in that department.

If you’re looking for any hope here, all I can offer you is this: the Red Sox were still in first place in the AL East for 17 days this season. Pretty hard to believe after what we’ve seen.

On a more positive note, Xander Bogaerts is turning into the hitter we all thought he would, and Tim Britton writes about his improvement with RISP fueling his meteoric rise to becoming one of the best shortstops in the AL. Bogaerts has been a bit more aggressive as of late, and that change in plate approach has boosted his OPS from .705 in May to .767 in June. He’s abandoned his pull-happy tendencies and it’s worked brilliantly, as he’s hitting .365 on balls hit to center & right. Chili Davis is even hinting that the best is yet to come – once he settles in with this new approach, his power should emerge.

Quick Hits

Manny Being Manny 2: Electric Boogaloo? After setting fire to the Carolina League with a .316/.342/.474 slash line since May 30th, Manuel Margot got the call to Double-A Portland. Margot is only 20 years old, so even if he got promoted at the end of the year, he’d still be ahead of schedule in terms of average minor league development. Get excited.

You might have noticed it feels like Mookie Betts is hitting everything lately. That’s because he is. Since June 15th, Mookie has posted a .581 average with an OPS exceeding 1.500. You’d be hard-pressed to do that in MLB The Show. His confidence is on the rise, and with that comes video game numbers.

Hanley Ramirez hits baseballs very hard from time to time. While in Kansas City, he hit a ball so hard that it broke the record for highest apex of a home run on record. Jeff Sullivan even double-checked it with two separate databases to make sure that it was a legitimate moonshot.

Andrew Benintendi, the first-round selection of the Red Sox, won college baseball’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy – the Golden Spikes Award. The seventh overall pick was recognized as the top college baseball player in the nation, as well as an All-American and the SEC Player of the Year.

Three Good Game Stories

The Red Sox need to win these next few games against in-division teams, and as Sean McAdam writes, they got off to a pretty sad start on Tuesday.

On Sunday, the Red Sox looked like the team we fantasized about in March, as they routed the Royals thanks to a David Ortiz homer and 13 extra-base hits total.

Rick Porcello’s start Saturday was one to forget, as he still showed issues allowing homers, and doesn’t look like the pitcher the Red Sox paid to the tune of $82 million.

Photo by Brad Rempel/USA Today Sports Images