AP/Elise Amendola

The 2018 Red Sox won the World Series 72 days ago. The 2019 Red Sox begin spring training in 38 days.

Welcome to 2019. Will the Red Sox repeat?

No major league team has repeated since the New York Yankees went back-to-back-to-back in 1998, 1999 and 2000. So repeating is an incredibly difficult challenge. We're not going to predict that now, but here are 10 other Red Sox predictions for 2019:

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AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

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1. Xander Bogaerts will have another big season, then re-sign as a free agent

Xander Bogaerts posted career highs in extra-base hits (71), home runs (23), doubles (45), on-base percentage (.360), slugging percentage (.522), OPS (.883) and RBIs (103) during 2018.

He thrived under first-year manager Alex Cora, who gave the tall shortstop more scheduled rest, and hitting coach Tim Hyers, a launch angle guru.

Bogaerts is eligible for free agency after the 2019 season. Expect him to post similar offensive statistics and then test the free agent market. Scott Boras' clients almost always elect for free agency.

But Bogaerts enjoys playing here in Boston and the Red Sox almost certainly will make an aggressive push to re-sign him. He'll be only 27 next offseason. He'll find his way back to Boston on a seven- or eight-year contract.

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AP Photo/Elise Amendola

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2. 2019 will be Chris Sale's final season as a Red Sox

Chris Sale's two best seasons of his career statistically have come with Boston. He posted a career-high 7.7 WAR (Fangraphs.com metric) in his first year here in 2017. He recorded his second-best season WAR (6.5) in 2018.

But he has struggled with durability. His ERA inflated to 4.09 in his final 11 starts during 2017 after he had a 2.37 ERA in his first 21 starts.

He spent two stints on the disabled list with elbow inflammation during the second half of 2018. He pitched only 29 innings after the All-Star break.

The Red Sox have several top players, including Sale, Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr., eligible for free agency over the next two years. It might be best to move on from Sale at the end of this season if he again shows a lack of durability.

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AP Photo/David J. Phillip

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3. David Price will be a fan favorite and he'll embrace the love

Get ready for David Price to receive the loudest ovation when Red Sox players receive their World Series rings on Opening Day at Fenway.

He'll deserve all the love he receives from fans this year. He went 6-1 with a 2.25 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 11 starts during the second half.

More importantly, he went 3-0 with a 2.59 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in five outings (four starts) during the ALCS and World Series after a loss in Game 2 of the ALDS to the Yankees. He won the ALCS and World Series clinchers.

Even a poor start here and there against the Yankees won't matter. He's a Red Sox World Series hero. He'll be beloved in Boston forever now. And he'll embrace the love from fans.

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AP Photo/Charles Krupa

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4. Rafael Devers will bash 35 homers

Devers seems to have learned from his mistakes after an inconsistent first full major league season in which he landed on the disabled twice because of a left hamstring strain and once with left shoulder inflammation.

He clearly was overweight and so he hired a personal trainer this offseason to get in better shape.

Andrew Benintendi's OPS increased 54 points from his first full season to his second full season. Expect a similar climb in Devers' statistics.

"I think the first full season is different," Benintendi told MassLive.com in October. "It's a lot of games. You're facing a lot of guys you've never faced before. And I think next year he'll be able to go back through his at-bats against certain pitchers and kind of have a plan and (know) how they're going to go about attacking him. It definitely helps."

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AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

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5. Jackie Bradley Jr. won't have a roller coaster year

Bradley put together a consistent second half offensively after making some adjustments with the help of J.D. Martinez. He posted an OPS of .801 in July, .827 in August and .826 in September.

The center fielder has been an extremely streaky hitter his entire career. But manager Alex Cora said during the postseason he's looking forward to Bradley's 2019 season because he feels he finally can put together a consistent full season.

Cora reiterated the same sentiment at the Winter Meetings.

"He felt it and he understands who he is now and I don't think the whole -- like the roller coaster Jackie Bradley -- will happen again," Cora said. "He understands who he is. And with that offensive approach over 162 games, we'll see what happens."

Put his struggles during the first half into perspective. He hit the ball extremely hard, but teams shifted on him 51.7 percent of the time in 2018, up from 33.1 percent in 2017.

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AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

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6. Steven Wright will be Boston's best reliever

Wright has been an extremely effective pitcher no matter the role whenever he has been healthy during his Red Sox career. He recorded a 2.68 ERA in 20 outings, including four starts (53.2 innings) last year. He posted a 3.33 ERA in 24 starts during 2016.

His problem is staying healthy.

He'll be two years removed major knee surgery during 2019, and he has the ability to fill a multiple-inning relief role similar to how the Brewers use Josh Hader. The Red Sox trust him in late-inning, high-leverage spots despite him throwing an unpredictable knuckleball. We saw that last September as the Red Sox groomed him for a setup role before the playoffs. But his knee injury kept him from pitching in October.

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AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

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7. Blake Swihart and Christian Vazquez will share the catching duties

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has said he likely won't enter the 2019 regular season with all three catchers on his 25-man roster even if he brings all three to spring training. It's possible he'll trade one of the three before pitchers and catchers report next month.

It's likely Dombrowski will trade Sandy Leon and keep Christian Vazquez and Blake Swihart as his catching duo.

People point to Sandy Leon's catcher's ERA when raving about his value. But it's a fairly irrelevant statistic. A team like the Red Sox which places so much emphasis on advanced metrics can't place much importance on catcher's ERA.

Vazquez overtook Leon for the No. 1 catcher job last postseason. Leon made only one start in the ALCS and one start in the World Series. Both games were started by Chris Sale..

Leon posted a .511 OPS in 2018 and .644 OPS in 2017. The starting catcher has to contribute somewhat offensively. He didn't hit at all last year.

Swihart, meanwhile, showed more ability defensively than some knew he had when he filled in during Vazquez's DL stint from July 8-Sept. 1 (fractured finger).

"I want to see Blake catching more. I'll give him a chance to," Cora said at the Winter Meetings. "There's a few things that we recognize during the season that he does well. I mean, his release was a lot better. Footwork was better. Blocking was better."

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AP Photo/John Locher

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8. Red Sox will use analytics even more aggressively than they did in 2018

A team needs talented players to win a World Series. The 2018 Red Sox had plenty of talented players.

But they also had an astute analytics department that put every fielder in the right spots (did you see some of those aggressive outfield shifts last year?) and devised beautiful attack plans for Red Sox pitchers to expose the weaknesses of opposing hitters.

Look for the Red Sox to take their analytics to another level this year. Cora already made the right decision to move Mookie Betts into the two hole. A club's top two hitters should bat second and cleanup.

Remember during the World Series when Alex Cora shifted J.D. Martinez from left field to right field, Jackie Bradley Jr. from center to left and Mookie Betts from right to center when Manny Machado hit? Maybe we'll see more outfield positional switches during 2019 based on who is hitting.

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AP Photo/David J. Phillip

He has to stay healthy, but Moreland is more capable of maintaining his

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9. The 2019 Red Sox will outscore the 2018 Red Sox

The 2018 Red Sox led the majors with 876 runs. Boston returns an identical offense in 2019 but it should score even more runs.

Moving Mookie Betts to the No. 2 hole should help.

Rafael Devers should be a more productive hitter as mentioned above. Eduardo Nunez is two years removed from a knee injury that bothered him all last season.

You have to believe the Red Sox will receive more offense from their catchers.

Dustin Pedroia might return from his knee injury.

Mitch Moreland has struggled as an everyday player. He posted a .684 OPS against left-handed pitching compared to a .784 OPS vs. right-handers in 2017. He posted a .684 OPS vs. lefties and .780 OPS vs. righties in 2018.

Moreland was the full-time first baseman during 2017 when Hanley Ramirez's shoulder injury kept him from making all but 17 starts at first base that year. He then served as the everyday first baseman again in 2018 after Boston designated Ramirez for assignment and before it traded for Steve Pearce.

The Red Sox should receive more overall production from the first base position with Pearce and Moreland platooning together from day one.

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10. Durbin Feltman will make his major league debut by June

Right-handed reliever Durbin Feltman, the 100th-overall pick in the 2018 June Draft, likely will start the season at Double-A Portland. He'll make a quick jump from Portland to the majors.

He has a wipeout slider and upper-90s fastball. Some felt he could have helped the Red Sox late in 2018.

Dombrowski said last July the Red Sox didn't draft Feltman to pitch in the majors during '18, but he added, "We think he can move fast because he's got ability."