Poll: Have the Sox surprised through the first 50 games of ’24?

Last night, the Red Sox wrapped up their first sweep of the Rays since Oct. 2022 while winning their first series in Tampa Bay since 2019. Boston has won 4-straight, they're 2-games over .500, 3rd in the AL East and sit a 1/2 game out of a Wild Card spot in the AL.

For a team that was projected to win around 77 games, they're currently on an 84-win pace. So, while you won't exactly excite people with 84 wins, they're proving better than expected so far.

It's also a squad that has dealt with a myriad of injuries already this year, and now appear set to lose Garrett Whitlock to season-ending surgery to repair torn ligaments in his throwing elbow.

But through the first 50, that little Boston engine that could has kept chugging.

There's certainly exciting players throughout the lineup. Jarren Duran electrifies with his speed, Rafael Devers just made franchise history with his slugging prowess and Ceddanne Rafaela seems to turn in a web gem every other night no matter where he's playing on the diamond.

On the mound, few starters in baseball have been as good as Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford, as weird of a sentence as that is for me to type.

But, you can't mention the good without the other stuff. Like the fact that most nights the lineup features one or two 4-A ballplayers and the margin of error for this team is razor thin.

We'll see soon just what kind of mettle this team possesses, as the upcoming schedule is not too kind to the Sox, who will play Milwaukee, Baltimore, Atlanta, Philadelphia and the Yankees as part of their next seven series. Those teams have a combined winning percentage of .638 - the equivalent of a 103-win team.

But that's the future. We're talking about the immediate past. Has it been a good start to the year for the Sox?