Every year, there’s a trendy pick for a World Series team. This season, it may just be the Boston Red Sox.

For the first time since 2012, they’ve missed the playoffs for the third straight season. However, after an intriguing offseason, Boston is looking to end that skid and return to the promised land.

Let’s take a look at how they performed last year, who they acquired to improve this winter, and what their overall outlook is for 2025.

The Red Sox finished with an 81-81 record last season, however, they hovered around the Wild Card conversation for most of the year. Ultimately, a 28-38 second half record did them in, including nine losses to AL East opponents in September.

The head of the snake offensively last year was easily Jarren Duran, a former top prospect in Boston’s farm system. Duran was fantastic last year, slashing .285/.342/.492 with an .834 OPS, 21 home runs, 75 RBIs, 34 stolen bases, and a team-best 8.5 bWAR out of the leadoff spot. On top of that, Duran led all of the majors in doubles (48) and triples (14). Factor in an 8th place finish in AL MVP voting, his first All-Star nod, and an All-Star game MVP award, and I’d say Duran silenced quite a few critics.

Other offensive catalysts were Tyler O’Neill and, of course, Rafael Devers. Despite spending only one year with the Red Sox, O’Neill made it a good one, hitting .241/.336/.511 with an .847 OPS, 31 home runs, 61 RBIs, and 18 doubles. He also mashed left-handed pitching last season, posting a 1.180 OPS and 16 homers against southpaws.

Not including the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Devers posted his fifth consecutive season with at least 25 home runs and 80 RBIs. His solid 2024 slash line almost mirrored that of 2023, and he received MVP votes for the fourth consecutive season.

Boston also had several contributing pieces in their batting order; David Hamilton stole 33 bases (sixth in the American League), Connor Wong had his best season since being acquired in the Mookie Betts trade, Ceddanne Rafaela logged 75 RBIs, and Wilyer Abreu won a Gold Glove and placed sixth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. They did, however, miss Trevor Story for most of the season due to a dislocated shoulder. Since signing a six-year, $140 million deal with Boston before the 2022 season, Story has played only 163 games with the Red Sox.

Story’s presence has been missed in the lineup, but it is also missed in the infield. The Red Sox made the second-most errors in the MLB last season with 115 and had the second-worst fielding percentage, both numbers trailing only the Miami Marlins.

Boston’s pitching rotation took a hit before the season started when it was revealed that Lucas Giolito would miss all of the 2024 campaign due to internal brace surgery to the UCL in his right elbow. Giolito had just signed a two-year deal with the club, although the second year was a player option, something he picked up unsurprisingly after last season.

The Red Sox countered losing Giolito with a trio of starters who made 30 starts for the first time in their respective careers in Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, and Brayan Bello. Crawford fought through multiple injuries over the past two seasons, but he finally put together a team-best 33 starts and posted a 4.36 ERA, 4.65 FIP, and an 8.6 K/9. Unfortunately, he did allow a league-best 34 home runs and also suffered an MLB-high 16 losses.

Houck had also fought through his fair share of injuries during his career, but he made a career-high 30 starts last season with a 3.12 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 7.8 K/9, and an AL-best 0.6 HR/9. Houck made a tremendous impression on the team to start the season, holding a 1.85 ERA through his first 12 starts, including a complete game shutout against the Cleveland Guardians on April 17th. His first half performance earned him his first All-Star game appearance, however, he gave up three earned runs in his one inning of work.

Bello made 30 starts and posted a 4.49 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, and 8.5 K/9, including his above-average changeup that generated a 36.9% whiff rate last season. Nick Pivetta and Cooper Criswell also picked up the slack in the rotation, which was also missing Garrett Whitlock for the majority of the season due to an oblique strain.

Boston made headlines this winter with a pair of ceiling-raising acquisitions, acquiring 3B Alex Bregman in free agency and SP Garrett Crochet via trade.

Bregman was one of the final notable names to fall off the free agent board, choosing the Red Sox over other rumoured contenders such as the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs. And you can’t blame him at all for doing so; Bregman and the Red Sox agreed to a three-year, $120 million deal with opt outs after ’25 and ’26, as well as some deferred money.

He wrapped up a well-accomplished nine-year tenure with the Houston Astros last season, slashing .260/.315/.453 with a .768 OPS, 26 home runs, 75 RBIs, and 30 doubles. He also won his first career Gold Glove and ranked fourth amongst all third basemen in fielding percentage, an attractive trait for a team looking at improving their defense. His swing should transition nicely going from the Crawford Boxes to the Green Monster.

Crochet was a popular trade candidate heading into the offseason after a breakout season with the Chicago White Sox.

He excelled massively after being moved to the starting rotation for the first time in his MLB career, making 32 starts and owning a 3.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, a 12.9 K/9, and a 2.0 BB/9. Given that his 146.0 innings pitched almost tripled his previous career-high for a season, the White Sox monitored and limited his pitch count during the second half of the season. Crochet amassed six outings with 10+ strikeouts; that number and his K/9 might’ve been even greater had he completed a full-season workload.

Crochet’s Baseball Savant page is peppered with red bars, among those being his 98th percentile rank in strikeout percentage and 93rd percentile rank in chase and whiff rate. All of his pitches possessed a whiff rate of 30% or higher, with his fastball and sinker averaging 97 mph.

The Red Sox traded prospects C Kyle Teel, OF Braden Montgomery, INF Chase Meidroth, and RHP Wikelman Gonzalez to the White Sox in the trade, with Teel and Montgomery immediately bolstering Chicago’s prospect pool.

Aside from Crochet, the Red Sox also added starting pitchers Walker Buehler and Patrick Sandoval, although the latter will reportedly miss most of the upcoming season recovering from elbow surgery. Buehler was signed to a one-year, $21.05 million deal with a mutual option for 2026, a reasonable deal considering his recent injuries. Since the start of the 2022 season, Buehler has made three total stints on the IL, but two of them were for a substantial amount of time. One of those stints was due to Tommy John surgery, which forced him to miss all of the 2023 season and the start of 2024.

Buehler missed more time last season with a hip injury, but he made it back in time to pitch down the stretch and in the postseason. He made only 16 starts a year ago, pitching to a 5.38 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, and a 7.6 K/9, but his velocities on his pitches only slightly deviated from where he was earlier in his career. Being limited to 28 regular season starts over the past three seasons is a bummer for him given how well he pitched between 2018 and 2021. In my opinion, however, a one-year deal for a bounce-back candidate like Buehler is good business for the Red Sox.

Sandoval was inked to a two-year, $18.25 million deal, however, the aforementioned internal brace surgery to his left elbow will keep him out a while this upcoming season. There’s a chance he will be back in the second half of the year, but because of the uncertainty, the Red Sox structured the contract so that only $5.5 million would be owed to Sandoval for the 2025 campaign. He made 16 starts with the Angels a year ago, owning a 5.08 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, and a 9.2 K/9.

The Red Sox boasted their bullpen with a pair of adds, including becoming the seventh team that Aroldis Chapman will pitch for in his soon-to-be 16th MLB season. Chapman, who was signed to a one-year, $10.75 deal, tied a career-best with 68 appearances last season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, posting a 3.79 ERA, 3.04 FIP, 14.3 K/9, and a 5.7 BB/9. Walks have been an issue for Chapman in recent seasons, but there is no doubt that the strikeouts – and the velocity – are still present in his game.

Along with Chapman, Boston also acquired a pair of left-handed relievers in Jovani Moran and Justin Wilson to shore up the ‘pen. Wilson was signed to a one-year, $2.25 million deal after posting a 5.59 ERA across 60 innings with the Reds last year. It was the 37-year-old’s first full season since recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2022.

Moran was non-tendered by the Twins at the end of the 2023 season after it was decided that he would also need Tommy John surgery. He was re-signed to a minor league deal for the ’24 campaign, but was traded to the Red Sox back in December in exchange for 2B Mickey Gasper. In his three MLB seasons, Moran has posted a 4.15 ERA and 11.1 K/9 over 91 innings.

Finally, the Red Sox signed several notable players to minor league contracts, such as RP Matt Moore, RP Adam Ottavino, RP Sean Newcomb, UTIL Abraham Toro, and OF Trayce Thompson. It’d be plausible to see some, or even all, of those players serve at the major league level this season at some point if they remain with the team following Spring Training.

It was good to see Boston invest heavily in their pitching given the amount of injuries the rotation has dealt with recently, although several of the acquisitions have recently dealt with significant injuries of their own. It’ll be interesting to see if Boston monitors Crochet’s innings at some point during the season. Sure, he showed that he can do it for 146 innings last year, but with that velocity and the possibility of needing him for October, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen.

Adding Chapman to the bullpen made a lot of sense for the Red Sox. While they do get Liam Hendriks back from Tommy John surgery this season, having multiple closers available can shorten the game for Alex Cora and give them some insurance in case Hendriks suffers any setbacks. Hendriks, Giolito, and even Triston Casas (played in only 63 games due to a rib injury) appear to all have the green light for this season, so those guys turn into “acquisitions” in their own right.

Many Red Sox fans are looking forward to the potential of having highly-touted hitting prospects OF Roman Anthony, INF/OF Kristian Campbell, and SS Marcelo Mayer called up to the big leagues at some point this season. Having three MLB-ready pieces will force some lineup shuffling, but if the team is contending and those guys are ready, that’s a game that Boston will need to play as they still have a top farm system even after trading away key pieces to the White Sox for Crochet.

I think Boston will be able to hit with no issue, but their biggest keys are keeping the pitching staff healthy and defending at a higher level. They didn’t go full “run prevention” mode, but adding Bregman to the infield and keeping Story healthy should clean that mess up to some extent.

The Red Sox did make headlines last month with Devers explicitly telling the media that third base is his position. Bregman could (and likely will) end up playing second base, but is the team better with him at third? That whole situation may turn out to be nothing, and Cora will have a few different infield makeup options when he writes out the lineup card each day.

There’s good reason for the hype around Boston entering the 2025 season. They have talent all over the place, and even if the young guys struggle out of the gate, all of Boston’s eggs aren’t in their baskets. They have the depth to stay afloat. Like I said, though, keeping the pitching healthy and improving their defense (do I sound like Ross Atkins?) should earn back some wins they’ve been missing in recent seasons. It’s what will take them from good to great.