After winning 108 regular season games on their way to another 11 wins in the 2018 postseason, Alex Cora’s roster looks very much like the one he had for most of last season. In fact, the Opening Day roster includes only one player – Colten Brewer – who did not play for Boston last season. Spring training was, like last year, relatively quiet, and the Red Sox finished with 12 wins versus 17 losses and a tie. Perhaps the biggest news out of Fort Myers was a contract extension Boston gave to pitcher Chris Sale; the five-year, $145M payout ensures that he will stay with the team through 2024, unless he chooses to opt out after the 2022 season.

With the roster now final, let’s see who will be with the team in Seattle tonight when they start the season against the Mariners at T-Mobile Field (formally Safeco Field).

The Backstop

To almost no one’s surprise, the Red Sox chose not to go with three catchers to begin the season, and the odd man out was Sandy Leon, whom Boston placed on waivers Sunday. He cleared waivers Tuesday and he has until today to decide whether to accept an assignment in Triple-A Pawtucket or become a free agent. Thus, it will be Christian Vazquez and Blake Swihart to begin the season. Vazquez remains the number one catcher on the depth chart, while Swihart offers utility options at nearly every position in the field.

The Infield

Dustin Pedroia, who missed all but three games last season, had hoped to make the Opening Day roster but will need extra time to rehab his surgically-repaired knee; this will be the second straight season he starts on the injured list (IL) (this term replaces the previously-used disabled list moniker). Eduardo Nunez and Brock Holt will split time at second until he returns.

The star of the infield is undoubtedly Xander Bogaerts, who finished last season with a career-best .833 OPS and a 135 OPS+. Another player whose star continues to rise is Rafael Devers, who played his first full season in 2018 and is still only 22 years old. With Steve Pearce on the mend due to an injury late in spring training, Mitch Moreland and Sam Travis will split time at first base, with Moreland facing all right-handed pitching; Travis will like head back to Pawtucket once the World Series MVP is ready to return.

The Outfield

On a team filled with talent – MLB.com picked Boston’s lineup as the best in baseball entering the season – the one player who sticks out above everyone else is 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts. His WAR of 10.9 last season tied Ted Williams for the second-best single season mark in team history among position players, bested only by Carl Yastrzemski’s remarkable 1967 season.

Boston also features arguably the best outfield talent in baseball, split between Betts, AL batting champion J.D. Martinez, left fielder Andrew Benintendi, and center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr.; Martinez will most often get the start as the team’s DH as was the case in 2018.

The Starting Rotation

Boston’s rotation, picked as the fourth best by MLB.com, includes the aforementioned Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Nathan Eovaldi, and Eduardo Rodriguez. Dogged by his inability to win games in October, Price’s postseason run in 2018, including a victory in the deciding game of the World Series, quieted the critics and nearly earned him World Series MVP honors. Price’s first start will not be until Monday against Oakland to give him more time to recover from norovirus, which slowed him during spring training and limited him to only a handful of innings.

The Relief Corp

The bullpen appears to be the only question mark for the Red Sox entering the season. Two notable subtractions – closer Craig Kimbrel, who remains unsigned as the season begins, and Joe Kelly, who went to the Los Angeles Dodgers via free agency – have been left unresolved in the minds of many baseball analysts. Cora has stated that, to begin, Matt Barnes and Ryan Brasier will split duties as the go-to pitcher in the ninth. Rounding out the bullpen will be Brewer, Heath Hembree, Tyler Thornburg, Brian Johnson, Brandon Workman, and Hector Velazquez.

Baseball was, is and always will be the best game in the world. – Babe Ruth

The day after a crushing Game Seven loss in the 2003 American League Championship Series for Red Sox fans, I arrived at work to find a youth-sized Yankees cap on my chair. One of my co-workers, an unabashed New York fan, had pinned a note to it: “Give this to your son so that he’ll know what it feels like to root for a REAL team!”

Needless to say, I was less than happy – no, actually, I was pissed – and I threw the hat and the note into one of the bottom drawers of my file cabinet, knowing well enough that my then six-month-old son would NEVER be a fan of any team other than the Boston Red Sox.

It wasn’t the first time someone had harassed me due to my undying loyalty to the local nine; in fact, I was so used to it that most often it didn’t bother me. Heck, I had married a girl from upstate New York whose family was primarily Yankees fans, and I took grief from them at every holiday gathering, save for my one nephew whom I had somehow convinced to root for the Sox (and still does).

But the sting of watching Boston blow a late-inning lead the night before, followed by a game-winning home run from Aaron Bleepin’ Boone in extras to send New York to yet another World Series – the Evil Empire’s sixth trip in eight seasons – was still fresh in my mind, and I wasn’t in the mood for what was really a harmless poke.

Why I didn’t just toss the hat in the trash, I don’t exactly remember. Maybe I didn’t want him to come by later, see it filed away with the garbage, and give me more grief. Maybe I thought hiding it deep in a drawer at work to collect dust for a finite period of time would keep it unworn by anyone, let alone my young son. Again, I don’t remember.

But one year later, all that changed. You know the story: down three games to none in the 2004 ALCS, I witnessed the point at which the fortunes of the franchise turned. With three outs to go in the game, from the center field bleachers at Fenway Park, I watched Dave Roberts steal second base; the rest is history, and ten days later, baseball crowned the Red Sox as World Series champions for the first time in 86 years.

Almost by instinct, I knew what next to do. With sleep still in my eyes, I returned to the work the following day and fished that cursed cap along with the appalling note out of my file cabinet (I hadn’t touched it in all that time). You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face as I found my co-worker standing with some of our other co-workers, shooting the breeze on the shop floor.

“Hey!” I called out as I approached him. The conversation stopped suddenly as every eye turned to look at me. I calmly handed him what he had gifted me a year earlier and said: “You can keep this [censored] hat, because my son DOES know what it feels like to root for a REAL team!” Dumbfounded for a moment, he then broke into a big smile and congratulated my team for finally ending 86 years of frustration. Of course, he had to add with a chuckle: “Think you’ll be around when they win their next championship in 2090?”

Fast-forward 14 years and here we stand, having seen our beloved Red Sox win a fourth championship in 15 seasons and the first in five years. Let that sink in: four championships in almost the blink of an eye. Even the most rabid of Red Sox fans would never have imagined this after that crushing defeat in 2003.

Each banner season has been special in its own unique way: this year, Boston was unstoppable, winning an improbable 108 games during the regular season, a new franchise record, and then taking down two 100-win teams en route to the sweet reward of a World Series win. Manager Alex Cora, who won it all with Boston in 2007, now has a collection of 119 photos framed on his office wall, one from each win in this, his rookie managerial season.

Longtime Boston Globe reporter and editor Martin Nolan, in an article written after the 2004 World Series ended, spoke about his father, rooting for his beloved Red Sox, either from the stands at Fenway Park or beside his radio at home in his kitchen, running through the emotions all too common of a frustrated Boston baseball fan. Late in life, his father said: “Marty, my boy, I don’t think the Sox are going to make it again in my lifetime. And I’m not too sure about yours.” A year after his father passed, the ball went between Bill Buckner’s legs, leading Nolan to observe, “The Red Sox killed my father, and they’re coming after me,” which David Halberstam quoted in his book, The Teammates.

While I did not suffer as long as Nolan – 1986 was the first time I vividly witnessed what others has painfully observed for years – it’s reason like this that I don’t take any of this recent success for granted; as the saying goes, winning never gets old. I don’t consider myself spoiled; I’m blessed. Blessed to witness a moment in time that this storied franchise leaves its mark on the sport. Blessed to share the excitement of a championship with my kids and my parents, the latter of whom suffered in the same vein as Nolan and earlier generations of Red Sox fan.

15 years ago, someone facetiously thought I would be doing my son a favor to let him become a Yankees fan. Whether due to shameless optimism, stubborn loyalty, or blind faith, I’m glad I choose to file away that cap.

Winning in extra innings is fairly common; Boston played bonus baseball 18 times in 2017, amassing a surprising 15-3 mark in those instances. Shutouts are also not unusual; Boston blanked its opponent in 11 games last season. All that stated, winning in extra innings while shutting out your opponent? That is somewhat unique. According to Baseball-Reference.com, since 1908, there have been only 32 instances where the Red Sox shut out their opponent but needed extra frames to secure the win.

Between 1912 and 1918, a span of seven seasons that saw the Red Sox win four World Series championships, Boston needed extra frames in 12 instances to win, including three games against Cleveland in 1918. Two of those games against the Indians came on back-to-back days, but not in back-to-back games, as the first shutout came in the first game of a doubleheader on 08 July.

Additionally, a game between the Red Sox and St. Louis Browns on 14 July 1916 at Fenway Park ended in a 0-0 tie after 17 innings. Ernie Koob went the distance for the visitors, while Carl Mays pitched the first 15 innings for Boston and Dutch Leonard tossed the final two. The Red Sox have one other instance in their history of a game that went to extra innings and ended in a 0-0 tie; that game came on 08 September 1929 against the Browns that was scoreless after ten innings. Likely because it was the second game of a doubleheader and that it came well before the Red Sox installed lights at Fenway did the game end when it did. Ironically, that game was a make up of a rain out from 25 July.

Since 1931, a span of nearly 88 seasons, there have only been 20 additional instances of the Red Sox shutting out their opponent in extra innings. Surprisingly, since 2011, Boston has accomplished this feat five times; more improbably, they have done it three times over the past two seasons: twice against Baltimore and once against Pittsburgh. Perhaps the most nail-biting of the most recent affairs came in 2011, when the Red Sox needed 16 innings to shut out the Rays 1-0 in Tampa, with Dustin Pedroia driving home Josh Reddick with two outs in the top of the frame and Jonathan Papelbon coming in to get the final three outs and preserve the win.

In 2006, the league launched the use of PITCHf/x, a technology that tracked the velocity, position, and break of every pitch in real-time. Last year, PITCHf/x was phased out in favor of Statcast, which had initially been installed in all 30 major league stadiums in 2015. Though there have been questions about the pitch velocity being reported by the latter (data suggests that it’s about two MPH higher), the accuracy of the pitches, measured using Doppler radar and high-definition video, is nearly perfect.

With this technology in place over the past dozen years or so, baseball has been able to audit the effectiveness of its umpires, the arbitrators of the game. The results, which are nearly indisputable, are often used to help decide who amongst the 76 men in blue across 19 umpiring crews should be awarded with a post-season assignment.

But that’s about the extent to which, other than for statistical purposes, baseball uses this data. Even though we, the viewers at home, know immediately where the pitch is thrown, that data is not fed to the home plate umpire, who instead relies on his judgement as to whether or not the pitch traversed the strike zone.

While they don’t have to worry about pitches where the batter puts the ball in play, fouls off the pitch or swings and misses, statistics between 2008 and 2013 compiled using PITCHf/x show that umpires must make the ball on about 50% of all pitches thrown. From there, further data from that same time frame shows that the umpires correctly call pitches either inside the strike zone roughly 87% of the time and outside of the strike zone about 85% of the time, contrary to the more favorable 97% accuracy reported by MLB.

In the spirit of good sportsmanship, but also per Rule 9.02(a), players and managers are not allowed to challenge these calls, right or wrong; doing so may result in an ejection. Seasoned fans have been witness to such decisions, usually followed by umpires, managers, and players standing nose-to-nose with spit flying as the arguments continue while boos (or possibly cheers if it’s a member of the opposition) rain down from the stands.

But that’s the beauty of baseball, the traditionalists argue, a perfect game made more perfect with the inclusion of the “human element.” In their eyes, the man in blue behind the plate should be allowed to call the game as he sees it. So what if he misses a few here and there (going by the MLB estimate)? It’s what has been the standard for well over 100 years since Norm McLean became the first professional umpire in 1876; it’s “good enough.”

But is it really? Take what Bryant Gumbel reported on his HBO show in late 2016: in Game Seven of the 2011 World Series, 14 missed calls by home plate umpire Jerry Layne favored the home team St. Louis Cardinals, who won the game and the series, while only three missed calls favored the visiting Texas Rangers. While this will never be proven, did an apparent bias, perhaps swayed by the emotion of the crowd at Busch Stadium in a playoff atmosphere, make enough of a difference to influence who was crowned the world champions of baseball that fall?

Regardless of whether it’s Game Seven of the World Series, Opening Day at Fenway Park, or any one of 4,860 games played during the regular season, most would agree that variability exists between umpires in terms of what is called a strike, especially when it comes to the edges of the strike zone. While research does suggest that umpires are getting better at calling pitches correctly since the advent of PITCHf/x, especially with regards to pitches lower in the zone, there is still considerable difference between what the rule book states and umpire interpretation. Even more maddening is that the same research suggests that balls and strikes may be called differently depending on whether the batter is left-handed or right-handed.

In its infancy, using this technology to call balls and strikes may have seemed risky, perhaps even foolish, with data to suggest that umpires are doing a reasonable job. But in July 2015, with the San Rafael Pacifics hosting the Vallejo Admirals, former Athletics outfielder Eric Byrnes called balls and strikes from the stands using the PITCHf/x technology. The results were positive; calls were immediate, blind spots that trouble every umpire were eliminated, and few arguments arose from the players, the fans, or the home plate umpire who kept his arms by his side but still remained a necessary part of the game. In fact, the use of PITCHf/x as an arbitrator became almost a second thought the longer the game went, to the point where Byrnes went from emphatically calling each pitch to a more subdued tone.

Think back to before instant replay was finally allowed in baseball in 2014. Traditionalists argued that there was no need; most of the calls on the field were correct and its use would only hurt “the integrity of the game.” Now consider this: in 2017, 660 out of 1395 calls were overturned based on video replay. That’s 47.3%, or roughly half. In 2016, 50.4% of calls were overturned; in 2015 and 2014, 48.9% and 47.3% were overturned, respectively. So, in the four-plus years it’s been in use, nearly half of all calls are overturned, and that doesn’t include the calls that stand because video evidence is insufficient. Also don’t forget that managers get a maximum of two per game, and a second one is allowed only if they successfully challenge the first call.

Not ones to be swayed by evidence, traditionalists, including some NESN  studio analysts, still argue that replay hurts the “integrity of the game,” which roughly translates to keeping the flow of the game moving. How does getting more calls correct hurt the integrity of the game? With instant replay truly being “instant” (no need to rewind tape as was the case during the NFL’s initial use of replay in 1986), umpires can convene and come to a conclusion in less than two minutes, far less than an on-field argument between manager and umpire in the tradition of Earl Weaver and Bill Burr. Using Statcast to call balls and strikes, as proven by Byrnes’ experience, would not interfere with the pace of play and mitigate nearly all discussion centered around the location of each pitch.

There is no longer any reason that, in 2018 and beyond, this facet of the game should continue to be a source of controversy. All 30 major league ballparks have the necessary technology installed and in use, and it would take almost no time to get a system in place. Like a Chris Sale pitch to the center of the strike zone, the call should be clear.

In team history, only five players have had at least two three-home-run games: Betts, Williams, Mo Vaughn, Jim Rice, and Nomar Garciaparra, the latter three having done it exactly twice. Famously, Garciaparra had two grand slams and ten RBI in his first game and totaled three slams and 18 RBI over his two games; in comparison, Betts has 19 RBI over his four games. Other Red Sox players who have had at least one grand slam in a three-home-run game include Williams, Norm Zauchin, Jim Tabor (two in his one game), Bill Mueller (two in his one game), and Jack Clark.

Betts also joins some elite company in Major League Baseball as one of only 17 players to have four or more three-home-run games. The current record is six games, which is held by Sammy Sosa and Johnny Mize. Five players have done it five times: Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Dave Kingman, Carlos Delgado, and Joe Carter. After that, tied with Betts with four games each are Willie Stargell, Aramis Ramirez, Albert Pujols, Larry Parrish, Ralph Kiner, Lou Gehrig, Steve Finley, Barry Bonds, and Ernie Banks.

Of these players, only Delgado and Gehrig hit four home runs in a game, a high water mark held collectively by 16 major league players; no Red Sox player has ever accomplished this rare feat.

In team history, 18 other players have hit at least three home runs in a game, including two current teammates, Hanley Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia. Ramirez accomplished the feat on 20 July 2016 against the San Francisco Giants at Fenway Park, while Pedroia hit three in a game back on 24 June 2010 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Of note: of all MLB players who have had multiple three home run games, not one has done it for Boston and at least one other team.

Boston enjoyed a relatively successful if rather low-key spring training. Basking in the warmth of the Florida sun at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers while New England enjoy four March Nor’easters, the Red Sox went 22-9-1, winning 14 of their last 15 and five of six against the Minnesota Twins to claim the Mayor’s Cup (if that is still a thing). With the roster now final, baseball begins for real today in Tampa Bay with the Red Sox in town for four against the Rays; let’s catch up on the state of the team as Opening Day dawns across the league.

The Outfield

One of the few new faces in the dugout is that of outfielder J.D. Martinez, who signed as a free agent early in spring training. With a solid outfield trio in Andrew Benintendi (LF), Jackie Bradley, Jr. (CF), and Mookie Betts (RF), Martinez will most likely see time as the team’s DH, but will get some opportunity to show off his glove. The seven-year veteran has a career split of .285/.342/.514 coupled with 152 home runs and a 130 OPS+. In 2017, he split time between Detroit and Arizona, pacing the latter with 29 home runs and a 1.107 OPS to lead the Diamondbacks to the postseason for the first time since 2011.

The Infield

The presence of Martinez means that last year’s primary DH, Hanley Ramirez, will move back to first base where he was stationed in 2016. This will result in less playing time for Mitch Moreland, who returns after a successful 2017 season as the primary DH. With Dustin Pedroia on the DL, Eduardo Nunez gets the Opening Day start at second base; this marks the first time since 2006 that the Muddy Chicken doesn’t have that honor for the Red Sox.

On the left side of the infield, Xander Bogaerts returns at shortstop, continuing some stability at the position for the first time since the days of Nomar Garciaparra, while 21-year-old Rafael Devers, in his second year with the club (he is ineligible for rookie status as he had more than 130 at-bats last season), gets the starting nod at third base. Brock Holt also returns in a utility role after Boston sent Deven Marrero to Arizona late in spring training.

The Backstop

In another move late in spring training, the Red Sox signed catcher Christian Vazquez to a three-year extension, signaling to everyone that he is the primary catcher moving forward with the club for the near future. That said, Sandy Leon and Blake Swihart return as well; Leon should service as the backup catcher, while Swihart will serve more in a utility role and spend time in the outfield.

The Rotation

Chris Sale, David Price, and Rick Porcello are the easy choices for the first three spots; after that, it gets a little spotty. With Steven Wright, Eduardo Rodriguez , and Drew Pomeranz all on the DL to begin the season, and with Wright further suspended 15 games for domestic violence stemming from an off-season incident, the back half of the rotation will be anchored by Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez. Once healthy and after completing his suspension, Wright should be eligible to return to the roster by the end of April, while Rodriguez should be ready by mid-April; there is no timetable on Pomeranz’s return.

The Bullpen

The bullpen remains a key strength of this team heading into the season. Craig Kimbrel enjoyed a monster 2017 season and expectations are high for him again in 2018 despite missing most of spring training to attend to a family matter. Also returning is Carson Smith, who is finally healthy after just 11 appearances over the last two seasons, as well as Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes, and Heath Hembree. Also in the mix are two rookies: 2015 draft choice Bobby Poyner, who posted a 0.87 ERA over 10.1 innings pitcher in 10 appearances this spring, and 10-year minor league veteran Marcus Walden, who posted a 0.64 ERA over 14 IP in eight appearances.

Kimbrel joins Pedro Martinez and Clay Buchholz as the only three Red Sox pitchers to strike three batters on nine pitches in a half-inning. Martinez accomplished his feat almost 15 years ago to the date — 18 May 2002 — in the first inning of a game against the Seattle Mariners, while Buchholz did so in the sixth inning of a game against the Baltimore Orioles on 16 August 2012.

The Red Sox have also been victimized by four opposing pitchers in this fashion. The first was Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers in the ninth inning of a game on 02 August 1959. Nolan Ryan was the next to accomplish this while pitching for the California Angels on 09 July 1972; he has done the same thing four years earlier with the New York Mets, making him one of four pitchers in MLB history to do so twice and the only one to do so in each league.

Roger Clemens was the next pitcher to fan the side on nine pitches, doing so in the first inning of a game on 18 September 1997 while pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays; it also marked one year to the day that he had struck out 20 batters in a game in one of his last appearances with the Red Sox. The most recent pitcher to accomplish the feat was Justin Masterson, who set down all three batters “by way of the K” on 02 June 2014 while pitching for the Cleveland Indians.

Of note: John Clarkson of the Boston Beaneaters, later to become the Atlanta Braves, is the first pitcher in MLB history to accomplish this feat, striking out Jim Fogarty, Sam Thompson, and Sid Farrar in the third inning of a game against the Philadelphia Quakers, later renamed the Phillies, on 04 June 1889. This makes him the only pitcher to have tossed an immaculate inning in the 19th century.

The Rotation

The Red Sox may have won the offseason last December when they sent top prospect Yoan Moncada and three other players to the White Sox in exchange for five time All-Star southpaw Chris Sale. Sale has not disappointed this spring; in 16 innings pitched in Grapefruit League action, he has struck out 20 with a WHIP of 1.06, and even held the Yankees, Boston’s biggest rival, to just two runs over six innings pitched on Tuesday in Tampa. Coupled with 2016 Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello, David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Steven Wright and backed by Drew Pomeranz and Kyle Kendrick, this rotation is arguably one of the best in the league, making the team early favorites to win another World Series.

Price will begin the season on the DL due to elbow issues that popped up during camp, but he is gaining strength day-by-day and, with effective monitoring and a full-blown throwing program, should return to the team within a month after the season begins. One pitcher who won’t return is Clay Buchholz whom, after ten up-and-down seasons with the Red Sox, Boston traded to the Phillies in December.

The Outfield

Remember last season, when Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley, Jr., and Mookie Betts would conclude each win with a celebratory dance in the outfield? Expect to see that more this season, as all three return to their respective positions (left, center, and right field). Backed by Chris Young and with spot starts from Brock Holt, this will be another strength of the team.

The Infield

The middle infielders, Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts, remain anchored at second base and shortstop, respectively. With David Ortiz enjoying all his retirement gifts and looking forward to seeing his number retired at Fenway Park in June, the Red Sox tapped last year’s primary first baseman, Hanley Ramirez, to replace Big Papi as the designated hitter. To fill this void, the Red Sox signed free agent Mitch Moreland, who won a Gold Glove at that position last fall with Texas. With no other backups, Ramirez should still see some spot starts at first.

Third base is another story; with Travis Shaw traded to the Brewers, the opportunity is there for former World Series MVP Pablo Sandoval to reclaim the position the Red Sox intended him to play when they signed him to a hefty $95 million contract after the 2014 season. The Internet was abuzz in December when photos appeared online of a slimmer Panda lifting weights and he reported to spring training camp last month looking more physically fit. Results to date this spring have also been promising; through yesterday, he had a .364 / .375 / .660 split in 15 games played. Consider him an early favorite for 2017 Comeback Player of the Year honors.

The Backstop

Slammin’ Sandy Leon returns for another season and was recently tapped as the Opening Day starter behind the dish; whether he returns to form at the plate with a bat in his hand is another story that will develop as the season progresses. Joining him will likely be Christian Vazquez, whose arm appears to finally be back at full strength after undergoing Tommy John surgery that forced him to miss the entire 2015 season. Blake Swihart is also in the mix for a spot on the 25 man roster but will likely start the season in Pawtucket as Vasquez is out of options and Boston doesn’t want to chance putting him on waivers.

The Bullpen

Carson Smith, whom the Red Sox brought in last year to serve as the set-up man for closer Craig Kimbrel, is now nine months removed from Tommy John surgery and only recently threw off the mound this spring. Right now, it looks like he will not return until midseason. With Junichi Tazawa joining the Marlins and Koji Uehara joining the Cubs as free agents, Boston had hoped to fill Smith’s void with Tyler Thornburg, whom the team acquired in the aforementioned deal with the Brewers. Unfortunately, Thornburg has dealt with arm issues in camp and has made only two Grapefruit League appearances to date. Whether or not he joins the team in Boston on Opening Day is still in the air; either way, Joe Kelly will likely take the ball in the eighth inning if the Red Sox have the lead.

The home run also proved to be number 504 in Big Papi’s career, which ties him with Eddie Murray for 26th all-time in MLB history. After Murray, his next target on the all-time list would be Gary Sheffield (509), followed by Mel Ott (511), Ernie Banks (512) and Eddie Matthews (also 512). He now also has 446 home runs with the Red Sox, which puts him six behind Carl Yastrzemski for second place (452) and well behind Ted Williams with 521, whom he has a chance to catch only in the career total category.

How to determine the franchise record for Opening Day home runs depends on how you define the criteria. In terms of home run totals, use of the Play Index at Baseball-Reference.com (purchase a subscription if you don’t already have one) reveals the following:

Yaztrzemski and Evans are tied at the top for home runs hit on five separate Opening Days, but Yaz bests Dewey by one in the total home run department thanks to two home runs hit in the opener in 1968 versus the Detroit Tigers. Likewise, Pedroia is currently tied with three others players (Williams, Rice, and Ortiz) with home runs in three individual openers, but he has four total courtesy of the two he hit in last year’s opener in Philadelphia versus the Phillies.

Other players who have hit home runs for the Red Sox on different Opening Days include Jason Varitek, Trot Nixon, Tim Naehring, Jackie Jensen, Bobby Doerr, and Tony Conigliaro.

For the curious, the major league record in terms of home run totals across multiple Opening Day contests is eight, held by Frank Robinson (eight individual games), Ken Griffey Jr. (seven games), and Adam Dunn (six games).

Boston is set open the 2016 regular reason today in Cleveland against the Indians. The Red Sox, who followed the 2013 championship season with two straight last place finishes in the American League East, will be managed for a fourth year by John Farrell, who returns to the helm after undergoing treatment for lymphoma that caused him to miss several games at the end of last season. Boston will play an additional road series in Toronto against the Blue Jays before opening Fenway Park next Monday versus the Baltimore Orioles.

Many familiar faces return from last season; besides Ortiz, the roster features newly minted first baseman Hanley Ramirez, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, shortstop Xander Bogaerts, outfielder Mookie Betts, and starting pitchers Clay Buchholz, Joe Kelly, and Rick Porcello. Another familiar face who returns as a starter this season is infielder Brock Holt, who was the lone representative for Boston at last year’s All Star Game.

Some of the new faces are already familiar to Boston fans. Pitcher David Price, who faced the Red Sox several times as a Tampa Bay starting pitcher, joins the club with the richest contract ever given in franchise history (seven years, $217 million). Chris Young, formally with the Yankees, begins the season as a reserve outfielder. One player less familiar to fans but prepared to make an impact is Craig Kimbrel, who signed as a free agent after six years split between the Braves and the Padres; he takes over the closer spot from Koji Uehara, who becomes Boston’s newest set up man.

Here is the complete Opening Day roster for Boston:

Pitchers (12)
David Price, Clay Buchholz, Joe Kelly, Rick Porcello, Steven Wright, Matt Barnes, Craig Kimbrel, Tommy Layne, Noe Ramirez, Robbie Ross Jr., Junichi Tazawa, and Koji Uehara

Catchers (2)
Ryan Hanigan and Blake Swihart

Infielders (6)
Xander Bogaerts, Brock Holt, Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, and Travis Shaw

Outfielders (4)
Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Rusney Castillo, and Chris Young

Designated Hitter (1)
David Ortiz

Starting pitchers Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Workman, relief pitcher Carson Smith, and catcher Christian Vazquez will begin the season on the 15-day disabled list.