Mazz: Breaking down the Red Sox on Opening Day

Once upon a time, Opening Day for the Red Sox was treated with a football mentality. And so, today, let's approach the Red Sox' 3-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds with old mechanism by which we grade the performances in a football game.

Three Up, Three Down.

Now, was it a dominant performance overall? No, not really, and certainly not when the Red Sox rack up more singles than an exoctic dancer at some second-rate strip club. The game was scoreless after six innings before the Red Sox scopred one in the seventh and two in the ninth, accounting for the 3-0 final. And before anyone talks about how good the Red Sox' pitching might be this season, remember that the Sox threw arguably their three best pitchers in yesterday's game - Garrett Crochet, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman - and that the fourth, Justin Slaten, was also with the team a year ago.

Not a single pitcher who is new to the 2026 Red Sox came close to setting foot on the mound.

That said, here are the notable performers (good and bad) for the Red Sox on Opening Day 2026.

After a poor spring, Crochet pretty much picked up right where he left off. The last time we saw him, he went 7 2/3 innings and struck out 11 at Yankee Stadium in Boston's only playoff victory. Yesterday, the game was still scoreless when the Reds loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Crochet struck out both Eugenio Suarez and Spencer Street to end the inning, then let go with a primarl roar.

Said Alex Cora of Crochet: "He's our ace. He did the job and made all of his pitches. He finished strong and gave us a chance for the offense to cash in.”

Obvious, right? He led off, played the entire game, went 3-for-4 and reached base four times. Upon taking a called third strike on a 3-2 pitch that might have ended the ninth, Anthony tapped his helmet and initiated the Red Sox' first ABS ball-strike challenge of the season, which he won. So instead of an inning-ending strikeout, Anthony trotted down to first to put runners at first and second. Two batters later, the Red Sox' lead had tripled from 1-0 to 3-0, in large part because Anthony's command of the strike zone was on display all day.

Oh, lest we forget: one of his hits was a 110-mph line drive that tied and drilled the wrist of Reds' first baseman Sal Stewart, who probably had the kind of welt you can get in paintball.

For a guy who only played three innings, Mayer certainly made them all count. He went 2-for-2 with a pinch-hit, leadoff double and a leadoff single, scoring the first two of Boston's three runs. In 2025, 10 of Mayer's hits went to the opposite.

On Thursday, the double went to left-center and the single whizzed down the third base line. The first went 104.7 mph. The second went 97.4. Now, should he play against lefties? Eventually. But let him fully get his feet planted. Yesterday was perhaps the best we've seen him yet. “The pinch hit there (in the seventh), it was huge,” Cora said.

Know what should alarm you? Against the first left-hander of the season, Durbin was hitting fifth. That's right, a man with one of the slowest bats in baseball - look it up - was between Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu. The exit velocities on Durbin's first two at-bats were 85.3 and 88.6 mph, which would barely qualify for a speeding ticket in some places. If you didn't know any better, you'd suggest the Red Sox need a good, right-handed-hitting third baseman, someone like Alex Breg- ... never mind.

By the way, Durbin also made the team's only error. If the Red Sox want to hit him seventh or eighth, fine. But fifth. I can name a bunch of righties that would be better off there.

Before you get all worked up about the fact that Mayer whould be starting and playing against everyone, you're missing the point. Mayer's absence against lefties to start the year was a forgone conclusion - and rightfully so. (He batted .125 against lefties last, going 4-for-26 for a .154 average, .185 OBP and struck out 10 times.) The real question is why Cora chose IKF (try saying or typing Kiner-Falefa over and over again) over Andruw Monasterio, who had an .837 OPS against lefties last year. Defense might very well be the answer, but let's not forget the real reason IKF is here: to give the Red Sox real shortstop depth behind Trevor Story.

However, as much as the Red Sox won yesterday's game - and wins are what matter most - 11 of their 12 hits were singles. A punchless offense may produce wins if the pitching and defense are good enough, but it won't be championship-caliber and it will be hard for the fan base to buy into.