The Boston Red Sox opened their series against the Texas Rangers. They went on to lose the series 3-1 and now look to get on track starting Monday against the Baltimore Orioles. It wasn’t all negative, so here are some key takeaways from their opening series.

Offense Was Dreadful

If there was ever a way to sum up the Red Sox series against the Rangers, it was the lack of capitalizing. There were numerous times where the Red Sox had players on base and the offense could not come through. Heck, Richard Fitts gave the team every chance to crawl in front, as he went on to retire 12 straight batters and the offense could never come through. It was quite the recurring theme and there was more than one occasion where the team has the bases loaded and came up empty.

It all brought me back to the second half of the season where the offense died and was no longer one of the top offenses in baseball. The Red Sox struggled mightily with runners in scoring position this series, going 6-40 and that’s also including leaving 20 runners on base in the final two games of the series. It was quite pitiful to watch and not exactly what you envisioned given the constructed lineup.

Rafael Devers is off to a historic start and not in a good way, going 0-16 with 12 strikeouts. Triston Casas is 1-16 with seven strikeouts and Bregman has four hits in the four games. The meat and potatoes of the lineup has to shine through and there’s no panic because it’s four games.

Kristian Campbell Belongs

If there is one person who is eating their words, it’s Tony Mazz from 98.5 the Sports Hub. Look we all have takes and sometimes those takes don’t age well. This one did not and even the MLB Twitter admin took their jab. Almost immediately after saying he doesn’t look ready, Campbell looked every bit as ready as the series went on.

There’s a reason you saw the ascension through the minor leagues like you did. You even went on to see what has made this young player so special. He brings enormous power in his bat and has enormous bat speed. As it currently stands, Campbell ranks 30th in average bat speed, which is huge for the young player. Campbell is fast, athletic, and is versatile. He’s a weapon and he was one of the best players for the Red Sox this series.

KRISTIAN CAMPBELL SMOKES HIS FIRST CAREER HOMER! THIS THING WAS ROPED!
pic.twitter.com/3JdIFQx4M4

— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) March 30, 2025

Campbell hit his first home run, which was an absolute tank to dead center and had an exit velocity of 112 off the bat. To pair with that was two doubles, with one having an exit velocity of 107. Campbell is hitting .429 for the Red Sox and slugging .768.

You are seeing why the Red Sox love this kid and they are in contract talks with him as we speak.

Wilyer Abreu also deserves some love. For a player that was supposed to be traded and on the move, ended up being the MVP of the series. Abreu was single handedly why the Red Sox won their first game, with two home runs and four RBI’s. He was the definition of perfection, and has a towering .700 average, an .800 OBP, and a 2.300 OPS.

Wilyer Abreu belongs and what a presence he was in this series.

The Infield Defense

Man what a night and day difference for the Red Sox defense. Outfield defense was never the problem, but the infield defense across the board was horrendous. Whether it was third base, second base, or short stop, there was a negative defensive runs saved and outs above average. Making the routine play was difficult, but this series, Alex Cora had to have a sigh of relief for himself.

Alex Bregman looks very comfortable playing third base defensively. Trevor Story stabilizes the infield and Kristian Campbell has no rookie lapses in playing second base. Heck, David Hamilton slotted to short stop in the finale and provided stable defense.

There were plenty of positives in what has felt like a sea of negatives given the series loss. It’s only four games, so no need to panic.