Pitchers and catchers need to report to Fort Myers by 5 pm today, the sign that winter is officially over. It is pretty easy to say that from Northern California where the temperature has been in the 70’s this week. For the second time in 4 years the Red Sox go into Spring Training as defending champions but somehow this one feels a little different than 2005. After the 2004 World Series there was not as much pressure on the team to repeat; several of the players were in new locations and fans could hold onto the memories of beating the Yankees in the ALCS for a few years. This year there is more pressure; the team is mostly intact, the bench is deeper than ever, and the young players have high expectations. Boston is no longer the lovable underdog around the country and teams will be looking to knock them down. The Red Sox are in a tough situation where anything short of making the World Series will be seen as a failure. As a reality check just remember how close the team was to losing to the Tribe last fall. The Sox are not going to dominate and win 120 games this year but they are going to be good. There will be the rough losing streaks and the Big Papi walk offs and with pitchers and catchers reporting today the predictions will be coming to an end soon and we get to see what the team can really do.
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