BOSTON -- Defending a title is never easy, but it seems particularly difficult to follow up a year in which you won 108 games in the regular season and went 11-3 in the postseason en route to a dominant World Series championship. 

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, their quest to do just that has gotten off to an extremely rocky start over the past week and change. Their title defense began with an 11-game road trip on the West Coast and it went worse than most people could have ever anticipated. Add in a loss in their home opener at Fenway on Tuesday and the Sox have sputtered out to a 3-9 start -- their worst since 2011.  

But a MLB campaign is a grueling marathon filled with peaks and valleys, and there are certain noteworthy aspects to be taken from the highs and lows and everything in between. Every week throughout the course of this season, we'll check in with the Red Sox to see where they're at in defending their throne, what we've learned recently and what's next for the reigning champs.

Then: April 9, 2018: 8-1, 1st in AL East | Now: April 9, 2019: 3-9, 5th in AL East

What we've learned 

MLB: Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox
Chris Sale has not looked like Chris Sale so far in 2019. USATSI

It turns out starting your season with 11 games in 11 days on the other side of the country is pretty ... shall we say ... not ideal. The Red Sox are only the second team in the last 100 years to play their first 11 games on the road (the 1980 Twins started their season with a 12-game road trip). According to the team, they logged an approximated 6,606 air miles in 15 days. 

That's going to be tough in any situation, but it's especially tough when you're playing like crap and continuously losing ballgames. The Red Sox dropped their first three series of the season against the Mariners (1-3), Athletics (1-3) and Diamondbacks (1-2). Last year's team didn't lose its third series of the year until May 9. 

But things didn't exactly turn into sunshine and rainbows when the Sox finally got back home to Boston on Tuesday, either. It looked like it had the potential to go that way when Chris Sale came out of the gate throwing mid-90s and the Sox got out to an early 2-0 lead, but the Blue Jays ripped off five unanswered runs -- including dunking right in Boston's face with a straight steal of home -- and forced Sale out of the game after just four innings. Things got ugly pretty quick.

Sale's early season performance has been at the top of the rotation has been worrisome, to say the least. His ERA is at 9.00 through his first three starts (0-3) and, on top of that, his velocity hasn't been where you'd expect it to be. After Tuesday's loss, manager Alex Cora pointed out Sale's inability to get swings and misses so far this year, a problem which he attributes to a mix of lower velocity and poor command. Sale didn't produce a swing-and-miss on a fastball until his third start, on his 83rd fastball of the year.

It's still early and there's plenty of time for Sale to revert to ace form, but there's reason to be concerned at this point -- especially given the $145 million extension the Red Sox just gave to him less than a month ago. The lefty isn't saying a whole lot to quell the concerns either.

The home opener only served as an extension of some of the issues seen through the season-opening road trip. Sox pitching surrendered 72 runs (64 earned) through the first 11 games, most of any team in the majors. They particularly had a tough time keeping the ball in the park, giving up 23 home runs through their first 11 games, second-most behind only the Baltimore Orioles. 

Everyone's concern heading into the season seemed to lie with a bullpen that lost two key pieces in Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel, but to this point the starting rotation has been more of an issue. Their starters are consistently getting lit up early and often, forcing the team to play from behind. Sale is the only pitcher with a single Quality Start through the first week of the season, and no pitcher in the rotation has picked up a win yet. Not great!

"Everybody knows we go with our starters," said Cora after Tuesday's 7-5 loss at Fenway. "Our starters are our strongest point, and so far it hasn't been good.

"We score, they score again ... we haven't had a shutdown innings the whole two weeks. We haven't had a chance to add on, which is very important to our offense, and any offense, in this league."

MLB: Boston Red Sox at Seattle Mariners
USATSI

Meanwhile, ironically, the bullpen was probably the most encouraging aspect of this team during their opening road trip. The eight relief pitchers in the 'pen combined to post a 1.86 ERA through 38.2 innings pitched over that stretch. Matt Barnes, who the Sox are expected to rely heavily on in late-inning situations this year, looked up to the task, retiring 13 of the 14 batters he's faced with six strikeouts. Brandon Workman was also a horse on the road trip, retiring 15 of 16 with seven strikeouts. But it's worth noting that both Barnes and Workman were significantly less effective in their appearances at Fenway on Tuesday.

At the plate, they have looked disappointingly average, but that could largely be a product of the holes that the pitching staff has put them in. The talent is obviously there but they're not getting enough steady contributions throughout the lineup. Ten of their 13 home runs have come from three players -- Mitch Moreland (4), JD Martinez (3) and Mookie Betts (3). Those three guys have also accounted for 25 of their 43 team RBI. Martinez and Blake Swihart (who had a three-hit effort on his 27th birthday last week) are the only guys batting over .300 to start the year.

Moreland, who is casually on pace to eclipse 50 home runs this year, deserves a nod for his clutch factor so far. His pinch hit three-run homer in the ninth inning against the Mariners helped the Sox avoid getting swept by Seattle. He also took a solo trip to Dongtown and provided the Red Sox their only tally in a 1-0 victory against the Diamondbacks. So I guess you could say he's directly responsible for two of Boston's three wins so far this year.

The baserunning? Also a bit shaky in the early going. Ramon Laureano, who is a freak with an absolute cannon, just could not stop hosing dudes down during the series in Oakland. He was addicted to it. 

Another note: Dustin Pedroia returned to the lineup on Tuesday for the opener at Fenway. It was a great reminder that Dustin Pedroia is still on the team.

Moment of the week

MLB: Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox
USATSI

Opening Day at Fenway, obviously. Anytime you get to raise a banner and hand out World Series rings at your home opener, that's probably going to be the biggest highlight of the week. I suppose the fact that it was one of very few highlights makes it that much easier of a choice. 

That pregame celebration was pretty familiar, not just because it was the fourth Opening Day title ceremony for Boston in the last 15 years, but also because it included a lot of the same elements from celebrations prior. There were the banners dropping over the Green Monster, the parade of former Red Sox players from their other championship teams, and a special guest appearance from Patriots players who also brought their own hardware.

However, some of the older faces that came to visit on Tuesday were ones that haven't been seen at Fenway in a while -- most notably Manny Ramirez and Curt Schilling, who have seemingly had strained relationships with the team's ownership since departing. Ramirez downplayed his recent absence, saying he'd been invited back a few times but was busy spending time with his wife and three kids, which is his top priority (and challenge) after baseball.

"I thought playing against the Yankees was going to be tough, but raising boys ... that's something different," a smiling Ramirez joked.

The rings that were handed out on Tuesday were pretty sweet -- 15-carats and all -- but the real highlight was the fact that David Price was the first Red Sox player to receive one. 

It was a pretty fitting and satisfying moment for a guy who was regularly dogged for not being a good postseason performer. But Price crushed that narrative with a strong postseason last fall, including an impressive victory in the clinching Game 5 of the World Series.

Looking ahead

The Sox will wrap up their brief two-game series with the Blue Jays on Thursday, then host the Orioles (5-5) for a four-game series at Fenway from Friday-Monday. It's the first meeting of the season between the two teams. The finale will be the annual matinee Patriots' Day game that coincides with the Boston Marathon. After that, they'll head to New York for their first meeting with the Yankees (5-5) this year.