Can Boston Celtics caretaker coach Joe Mazzulla handle the multiple personalities of an NBA locker room when the season starts Tuesday? ` Photo/Charles Krupa
A few thoughts while we wait for the Boston Red Sox and Xander Bogaerts to sit down to dinner…
• The New England Patriots are back at .500 and there will be no escaping Zappe mania this week. Western Kentucky University third stringer rookie Bailey Zappe threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns Sunday in Cleveland to go 2-0 as the Patriots’ starting quarterback. For the first time in 20 years, we’ve got a true QB controversy on our hands, and it’s going to stay with us until Zappe loses a game.
Mac Jones could be back before Zappe gets that chance. But what if Jones takes on the Chicago Bears next Monday night and fights? The fans’ call for Zappe is deafening. It’s always fun to see an underdog get his moment in the sun, but Jones will be the starter when he eventually returns.
The only question is how long he will stay in the position. Jones will now fight for his spot with every game he plays.
• Do you like the new baseball playoff format? Some of the best teams in baseball probably don’t. The Dodgers, with 111 wins, and the Braves, with 101 wins, have both been upset with the wildcard series winners over the past week. Los Angeles and Atlanta — the two top-flight National League winners — had to sit around for five days while the Padres and Phillies played best-of-three series in the first round.
That excitement has already sparked a chorus of complaints about the new format. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts showed a lot of class and refused to use it as an excuse. But every league wants to show its best sides and two of those sides have been eliminated early partly because of the format.
• There’s more than two weeks left in the MLB postseason, but here in Boston we’re already thinking about next season. Rule changes are being introduced this season, including regulations restricting moving.
Die-hard Sox fans should keep a close eye on the Criollos de Caguas team during Puerto Rican winter ball season. The team, led by Boston first base coach Ramón Vázquez, will experiment with different defensive formations within these new rules. Red Sox manager Alex Cora recently told me they might consider moving outfielders around in new formations now that all four infielders have to stay on the dirt.
He also said Fenway Park’s narrow dimensions could allow for some creativity in its outfield alignment. You might see a left fielder being shifted towards center while another outfielder comes in just behind the dirt to plug a defensive hole.
The days of the four outfielders may be over… but the era of the five infielders could be here soon.
• It’s early days but the Boston Bruins seem to be a fun team this year. The headlines are the return of David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron, but the key to this team will be quietly how the supporting cast fare. That’s why former Boston University star AJ Greer’s two-goal performance on Saturday night was so satisfying for general manager Don Sweeney.
Keep an eye on how the goalkeepers are doing. Linus Ullmark and former UMaine Black Bear Jeremy Swayman both had starts to open the season and both were looking good. It will be interesting to see how new coach Jim Montgomery (another former Black Bear) manages his time. Goaltender controversies are the hockey version of quarterback debates.
• The Boston Celtics open the 2022-23 season on Tuesday night when they host the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden. The biggest questions about this team still revolve around coaching. Will the Ime Udoka situation be a distraction? The Celts managed not to let it become one in preseason, but they’ll start to really answer questions about Udoka’s suspension when the season starts.
The other question is whether interim coach Joe Mazzulla can handle the diverse personalities of an NBA locker room early in the season. He’s never been the man before. Now he’s taking over a team that has had its fair share of power struggles in recent years. More than ever, it will be important for the Celtics to get off to a good start to put these questions behind them.
• Six months ago, it was easy to imagine that the Celtics would be the best choice to come out of a Boston Championship dry spell that stretched back to 2019’s Super Bowl LIII. Now they are surrounded by controversy and uncertainty. And those duck boats seem to stay parked for a while.
Tom Caron is the studio host for the Red Sox show on NESN.
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