Red Sox vs Reds Series Review

A Blog By Dean

Overall Takeaway

It feels very odd doing a series review right off the back. It is so difficult to judge anything from these three games. If I go and say, “Greg Weissert didn’t look great,” I am going to have his parents in my comments screaming at me that it’s the first weekend of the series. So, I am going to ignore the fact that the runs he gave up Saturday and Sunday were the deciding runs in both games.

There is no feeling like Opening Day, even if the schedule was really weird and the Netflix experience made me rethink the trajectory of our society. I did a lot more radio listening this series, with Sunday being the only day I was not driving around.

For those new, here I post a quick series review after every Red Sox series. I also post seven hot and cold hitters every week. That will make its debut NEXT week, as one series is not enough of a sample size. Enjoy.

What I Loved

• Roman Anthony

  • Was he unstoppable this series? No, he actually made quite a few mistakes. He also struck out five times over the three games. However, nothing will take away the excitement I felt on Opening Day.

• Garrett Crochet

  • He was disgusting. This was a big improvement over his 2025 Opening Day, when he only went five innings and gave up two runs, two walks, and struck out only four. A little bummed that he

• Connely Early

  • After watching the 5th inning, I was surprised that Cora sent Early back out for the 6th. Threw 96 pitches, which is more than most expected, and peaked at 96.1 MPH. Not sending him down to the minors was the right idea.

• Wilyer Abreu

  • I have deleted every tweet I had that called for Wilyer to be traded over Duran. If there are any left out there, just know I was hacked. It was the first time in his career that he had back-to-back games with multiple extra-base hits.

What I Was “Mid” About

• Sonny Gray

  • If you followed Sonny last year, you know he was big on alternating good games. So I am just going to figure that he will follow that routine and have a great outing at Fenway next weekend.

What I Didn’t Love

• Roman Anthony’s Arm

  • I genuinely believed for a second that Roman could throw a laser to home plate and keep the game tied on Saturday. That was not the case.

• Jarren Duran Getting Picked Off

  • Cost the Red Sox the game on Sunday. Came immediately after a pick-off attempt, and Duran was very slow to react. I did not see an angle that showed him getting him right away. The first shot looked like he missed, and then he got Duran after he had touched the bag.

• Caleb Durbin

  • LET ME BE VERY CLEAR. This does not mean I don’t like Caleb Durbin or that I think he will have a great season. You can’t go hitless in the series and end up anywhere other than “Didn’t Love.” But that doesn’t mean I don’t love him, if that makes sense.

• Trevor Story

  • I had Story at “mid” until that pop fly to end the game Sunday. Can’t be swinging first pitch with two on down by one run.