"Forget the beer, the collapse and the offseason turmoil.

Forget about shortstop, right field and what we'll see out of Carl Crawford.

The 2012 Red Sox will go as far as their pitching takes them.

The Sox return the game's No. 1 offense, and Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury [stats] and the gang will score plenty of runs this season. The real mystery is how many the team will give up.

The Yankees, Rays, Angels and maybe even the Rangers expect to feature better starting pitching in 2012 than they did in '11. It's unclear if the Red Sox will be able to make the same claim."