Boston Red Sox Spring Training Tickets - Preseason Overview

The Boston Red Sox were one of the best teams in baseball last year, but with all the offseason moves they made it's hard to predict where they'll end up in the AL East by season's end in 2009. Let's go over some of the major successes and minor failures the Red Sox achieved in 2008, and then get into some of the more current issues facing the team as they dive into spring training. Fans who are looking to get the inside scoop as to how the new players are fitting into the roster will want to check StubHub for Boston Red Sox spring training tickets to all the best spring training games taking place at the City of Palms Park in Fort Meyers, Florida.

-2008 Highlights-
From a casual fan's point of view, Boston was a pleasure to watch all year. They won the Wild Card race in the American League. Seven Boston players went to the All-Star game (three of them, Dustin Pedroia, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis, started) and they continued to dominate the Angles in the postseason. They were even one game away from going to the World Series. Tampa Bay managed to pull off a win in game seven of the ALCS, but otherwise it was a magnificent year from a narrative perspective. On offense the Red Sox were the second highest scoring team in the AL. The Red Sox recorded the most walks and the highest on base percentage, the second highest team batting average and the third highest slugging percentage in the American League. Dustin Pedroia won the AL MVP Award, a Gold Glove and was a Silver Slugger. He had the second highest batting average (.326) in the AL, and recorded the most runs (118), hits (213) and doubles (54).

Youkilis led the team with 29 home runs and a .569 slugging percentage. Manny was excellent before he left for LA (and was even better while on the West Coast) and Jason Bay earned his keep and then some, as he connected for 54 hits in 49 games, averaged .293 and slugged .527 while in Boston. Pitching was predictably fantastic, as Jonathan Papelbon saved 41 games and remained one of the best closers in baseball. Daisuke Matsuzaka won a team-high 18 games with an ERA of 2.90. Jon Lester struck out 152 en route to 16 wins and relievers like Javier Lopez and Hideki Okajima gave the Red Sox piece of mind all summer long.

-2008 Lowlights-
David Ortiz left something to be desired most of the year, although he came on strong at times. Jason Varitek had a down year, and Clay Buchholz didn't live up to the wild expectations. Some fans liked the idea of dropping Manny for Jason Bay, but others noticed a distinct lack of personality on the team. With Manny, Boston fans had an easy scapegoat for their frustrations.

-Spring Training and Future-
Staying healthy is a huge issue for the Boston Red Sox, as the core of the team is somewhat injury-prone and on the older side. Fans will likely miss unsigned free agents like Mike Timlin, Paul Byrd and Curt Schilling. Sean Casey retired. Kevin Cash signed with the Yankees, Coco Crisp was traded to Royals, Alex Cora signed with the Mets and Bartolo Colon signed with White Sox on the free agent market. David Aardsma was traded to the Mariners. The Red Sox added a ton of pitchers, including highlights like John Smoltz, Rocco Baldelli, Brad Penny, and Takashi Saito.

If you get Boston Red Sox spring training tickets you might want to keep an eye on where Penny and Saito end up in the rotation and bullpen, respectively. There could be some interesting position jockeying. The batting lineup shouldn't change much from the end of last season. With the arrival of Josh Bard, Varitek might have to fend off a competitor.

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