The first month of the season has been a marathon, with the Red Sox playing 36 games in 39 days out of the chute with only three scheduled off-days.

But starting Monday, the Red Sox are going to get a lot more breaks.

Monday marks the first of what will be almost weekly off-days for the rest of the season, with the Red Sox scheduled to have only three calendar weeks without a day off the remainder of the year. The majority of those off-days will come on Thursdays, and starting May 29 the club will get every Thursday off for six straight weeks and 11 out of 12 weeks overall into late August.

That is almost unheard of for a major league club and much more in line with a typical minor league schedule, where clubs get every Monday off. Having such consistent breaks built into the schedule could provide a huge lift for the Red Sox, with manager Alex Cora saying he’ll have a much easier time keeping everyone fresh.

“I think obviously position player wise we don’t have to have scheduled off days for them and we’ll take advantage of it,” Cora said prior to Sunday’s game. “Pitching-wise I think it’s too early to start skipping guys and moving guys around and getting (Garrett) Crochet out there every five days, because I think if we take care of them now then in August and September we can play that game because the schedule is very similar to the off-days.”

Cora also noted that regular off-days will allow him to be much more aggressive with the bullpen, especially with guys like Garrett Whitlock. He described a scenario where Whitlock could throw two innings on a Tuesday, rest on Wednesday and then pitch again on Friday after the off day having only missed one game. The club could take a similar approach with its other high-leverage arms, using Aroldis Chapman or Justin Slaten on Wednesday knowing both will be available again next time out on Friday.

More rest could also help the Red Sox break out of their early-season funk.

Despite facing the easiest schedule of any team in baseball, the Red Sox go into Monday’s off-day at only 18-18. They went 4-3 in their seven games against the woeful Chicago White Sox and are currently 2-5 against the Toronto Blue Jays, including several horrible losses like last week’s two late collapses.

Only six of Boston’s first 36 games have come against clubs that entered Sunday at or above .500, and while the Red Sox have held their own in those games (3-3), they haven’t been able to capitalize against the weaker competition on their schedule.

The Red Sox probably have to hope at least some of their inconsistent play can be attributed to the early season grind, because while the schedule is about to lighten up, the quality of their competition isn’t.

After facing Texas this week at Fenway Park, three of Boston’s four subsequent opponents will be clubs that currently boast winning records. That includes a road date with the Detroit Tigers, who currently own the American League’s best record, and a home series against the New York Mets, who trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by one game for the best record in MLB.

The Red Sox aspire to be a contender like those clubs, but at this stage of the season they remain a .500 team. It’ll be up to them to turn things around and start stringing together more wins, but if we look up a couple months down the road and the Red Sox are still stuck in neutral, they won’t have the schedule to blame.

Casas undergoes surgery

During Sunday’s game the Red Sox announced that first baseman Triston Casas has undergone successful patellar tendon repair surgery on his left knee.

The procedure was performed by Dr. Eric Berkson at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Casas suffered the injury while running the bases in Friday’s 6-1 win over the Twins, rupturing his tendon while trying to beat out a throw at first base in the bottom of the second inning. Casas remained on the ground for several minutes after the injury and was eventually carted off the field in a stretcher and taken to the hospital.

The first baseman is expected to miss the remainder of the season.

Prior to the injury Casas had endured a difficult start to the year but was showing signs of improvement. The 25-year-old batted .182 with three home runs and 11 RBI on the season but had posted a .261 average with two homers, seven RBI and a .936 OPS over his last eight games.

Casas has also endured numerous other injury setbacks in his career, including a torn cartilage in his ribcage last season that kept him out for nearly four months.

Buehler optimistic

Earlier this weekend Alex Cora expressed optimism that Walker Buehler wouldn’t need to spend much time on the injured list, saying he hoped the right-hander would miss a couple starts and be back after the minimum 15 days were up.

Buehler echoed that sentiment on Sunday.

Speaking to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe and Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic, Buehler said he thinks he’ll miss two or three starts but should be good to go afterwards. He described his shoulder issue as “relatively minor bursitis” and suggested that if the Red Sox were in the playoffs he would likely have tried to pitch through it.

Buehler was placed on the IL on Friday after Cora said he didn’t bounce back well following his previous start and has been replaced in the rotation for now by rookie Hunter Dobbins. Buehler is currently in his first season in Boston after signing a one-year, $21.05 million deal this past offseason, and so far the two-time All-Star is 4-1 with a 4.28 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 33.2 innings through his first six starts.

The former Los Angeles Dodgers standout had been on an upwards trajectory prior to the injury, throwing quality starts in three of his last four outings. But given that he won’t need to be shut down as a result of the injury, the club hopes he’ll be able to pick up right where he left off upon his activation, which could be as early as May 14.

Upcoming starters

Cora announced that Lucas Giolito, Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello will each start during this week’s upcoming home series against the Texas Rangers. Giolito is expected to face Nathan Eovaldi on Tuesday, Houck will face Tyler Mahle on Wednesday and Bello will go up against Jack Leiter on Thursday.

Extra innings

Right-hander Richard Fitts (strained right pectoral) played catch on the field Sunday and is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Monday. … Right-hander Kutter Crawford has been throwing live batting practice against hitters in Fort Myers. His most recent came on Friday and the starter is expected to throw another later this week. … Former Red Sox first baseman Bobby Dalbec was designated for assignment by the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.