The Cubs And Red Sox Are A Combined 3-13

The Boston Red Sox have come out of the gate flat, dropping seven of their first nine games. There is a bright side. It’s a better start than the Chicago Cubs, who have floundered to a 1-6 record and face the prospect of being way behind in the NL Central before even playing a game at Wrigley Field.

Baseball’s royalty is looking rather regular. And sure, put all the necessary caveats here: it’s a marathon, not sprint; water finds its level; track records are track records for a reason. At a certain point, though, laughing off premature doom becomes ignoring obvious problems.

That point may not be here for the Red Sox. Friday night’s starter, Rick Porcello, certainly reached his breaking point after allowing seven runs in 4.2 innings to bring his ERA to 13.50.

Porcello isn’t the only Sox pitcher who could rage. Starters have a 9.60 ERA and the bullpen hasn’t been lights-out either. Boston has a run differential of -26, far and away the worst in all baseball.

Meanwhile, Chicago allowed Milwaukee to jump out to an insurmountable 8-0 lead as the losing continued. The problematic relievers never got a chance to walk away a potential victory. Sporting an MLB-worst staff ERA of 7.85, answers are in short order.

All teams — even really good teams — go through rough patches. When those happen at the outset of a season, it’s more noticeable. There’s still plenty of time to recover. But let’s say, just for fun, that each team plays .500 ball the rest of April and May, struggling to get in a rhythm. That puts them 5-games under .500 headed into the summer. What are the odds that the Brewers, Cardinals, or Yankees aren’t 8-10 games over by that point.

It may be too early to worry. It’s never to early to build a real lead, though.