FORT MYERS, Fla. – Six weeks ago at Fenway Fest, Alex Cora said he was having a difficult time envisioning his regular-season batting order.
“I’m not there yet, to be honest with you,” the Red Sox manager said at the time. “Usually, I have a pretty good idea around this time (in the offseason), what we’re gonna do, but honestly, I have no idea. I think we have to wait and see what the roster is gonna look like… And we get there when we get there, but for the first time in years, I really don’t know how we’re gonna do it.”
Fast-forward to Sunday and the starting nine for the first Red Sox home game of Grapefruit League play could be a preview of the real thing.
“I just felt that’s a good way to set it up,” Cora said during his daily media session. “But yeah, it’s something I have envisioned and it just happened that for the first time in years, what you might see early is what you’re probably going to see on Opening Day.”
Boston Red Sox lineup
Roman Anthony DH
Trevor Story SS
Jarren Duran LF
Willson Contreras 1B
Wilyer ABreu RF
Caleb Durbin 3B
Ceddanne Rafaela CF
Carlos Narváez C
Isiah Kiner-Falefa 2B
Toronto Blue Jays lineup
Myles Straw CF
Jesús Sánchez RF
Eloy Jiménez DH
RJ Schreck LF
Leo Jiménez
Brandon Valenzuela C
Arjun Nimmala SS
Riley Tirotta 1B
Cutter Coffey 3B
Probable pitchers
Fernando Perez vs. RHP Brayan Bello
How to watch Blue Jays at Red Sox
When: 1:05 p.m. ET, JetBlue Park
Watch: NESN, NESN 360
Listen: WEEI
