If you hibernated through the MLB offseason, don’t worry — you didn’t miss much. It was an uneventful winter, at best, but the few roster shake-ups that did occur should add some intrigue to the 2018 season.
Those moves happened largely in the American League, and in the East division especially. The New York Yankees traded for former Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton, while the Boston Red Sox landed highly touted outfielder J.D. Martinez in free agency.
New York and Boston are notoriously tough cities to play in, especially for players coming from smaller markets. The change in environment could pose a problem for both Stanton and Martinez, who are also joining one of the most heated and historic rivalries in sports.
Kevin Millar, who was on the Red Sox in 2004 when the team came back from a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees in the ALCS en route to winning the franchise’s first World Series in 86 years, knows the challenges of these cities well.
Kelsey Driscoll 