Boston Red Sox: 5 reasons team will repeat in 2019

3. The lineup is still young

Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi, and Jackie Bradley Jr. are all under the age of 30. They all delivered when they needed too, especially Bradley and Betts. The former hit a major base-clearing double, and two big-time home runs in the Astros series, while the latter finally broke out of his own postseason slump with a home run in the late innings of Game 5 in the World Series, helping to pad the lead.

Also, with a championship under their belt, the lineup looks to stay intact. All of them are under contract, even J.D. Martinez, who still has that five year, $110 million deal he signed over the winter last year. He turned into the much needed missing piece Cora needed.

The dude had arguably the best season of his career, hitting 43 homers while gathering a career-best 130 RBIs. He was also a few average points away from winning the Triple Crown.

Betts, the guy that probably will surpass him in the MVP voting, had an even better year on both sides of the ball. His magnificent defense led to an almost perfect year from someone who many considered to be a one-hit wonder after last year’s decline at the plate.

Thankfully, he turned it on when it mattered, and despite another underwhelming postseason, the right fielder looks to imitate what he did in 2019, notably with the monkey off of his back.