It’s time to go get one!

The Boston Red Sox will look to win their first regular season series against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on Monday — with full coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ET on NESN. If you want to know what’s coming and what to expect, check out our full series preview:

RED SOX (1-2) @ ASTROS (2-2)

Dates: March 30, March 31, April 1
Location: Daikin Park
Series Record (All-Time): 53-50

THREE STORYLINES

1. TAXED BULLPEN?

Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Whitlock, Greg Weissert, and Justin Slaten have all made two appearances out of the bullpen through three games, and while that might not sound insane considering there was a chance tow in each of those games, it puts into question just how careful the club will be with them moving forward?

Whitlock and Weissert, specifically, could be down after being used in high-leverage situations after spending the majority of spring training doing the same thing in the World Baseball Classic. Chapman is the oldest player on the roster. Slaten was anything but sharp in his two appearances. The Red Sox will almost certainly try to add more to the plate of Ryan Watson, Jovani Morán, and Danny Coulombe, as well as Johan Oviedo as he piggybacks off of Ranger Suarez.

Brayan Bello and Garrett Crochet better give you some length throughout the latter two games of the series…

2. LINEUP CHANGES

I don’t think we’ll see three more starts out of Caleb Durbin in Houston…

Durbin was abysmal at the plate to start the season (0-for-12), so perhaps an off day will do him good? Andruw Monasterio and Isiah Kiner-Falefa will almost certainly each make a start, while there is room to shuffle things around to get some more at-bats for Masataka Yoshida (three walks in five at-bats) and Connor Wong (2-for-4).

3. THE APPROACH

The Red Sox made decent decisions at the plate during its first series, with the following numbers being shared by NESN’s Jake Roy on X:

2025
Swing Percentage: 48.3% (9th)
Chase Percentage: 29.3% (24th)

2026
Swing Percentage: 44.5% (24th)
Chase Percentage: 28.4% (9th)

I’d imagine these things change with a larger sample size, but you can’t say the lack of consistent production comes down to the approach. Roman Anthony (62.5%), Marcelo Mayer (60%), and Trevor Story (55.6%) are smoking the ball and lead the team in hard hit percentage, so there are some signs of life — you just have to get everyone to start elevating it like Wilyer Abreu.

PROBABLE PITCHERS

Monday, March 30: LHP Ranger Suarez (2025: 3.20 ERA, 157.1 IP, 151 K) vs RHP Lance McCuller Jr. (2025: 6.51 ERA, 55.1 IP, 61 K)
Tuesday, March 31: RHP Brayan Bello (2025: 3.35 ERA, 166.2 IP, 124 K) vs RHP Hunter Brown (0.00 ERA, 4.2 IP, 9 K)
Wednesday, April 1: LHP Garrett Crochet (0.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 8 K) vs RHP Mike Burrows (7.94 ERA, 5.2 IP, 6 K)

HOW TO WATCH?

Monday, March 30: 7:10 p.m. ET on NESN
Tuesday, March 31: 7:10 p.m. ET on NESN
Wednesday, April 1: 1:10 p.m. ET on NESN

More MLB: Making One Prediction For Each Player On Red Sox’s Opening Day Roster