Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning you’ll get a fresh, topical column to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
When the Red Sox began the season with three losses to the woeful Orioles, it looked like they were entering the second year of The Curse of Mookie.
Their outlook for 2021 already wasn’t promising and then they got swept at home by a team that entered the year with a zero percent chance to make the playoffs, per Fangraphs. The Red Sox lost the third game of the series, 11–3.