Red Sox
“We want to defend Fenway and play well at home this year.”
Fenway Park had become a house of horrors for the Red Sox over the last few summers.
While Boston’s batters have long relished 82 games spent peppering the Green Monster or golfing hanging breaking balls onto Landsdowne Street, Alex Cora’s club had failed to take advantage of the friendly confines of Fenway as of late.
As noted by Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, the Red Sox have only posted a .500 record at Fenway Park from 2019-24 — with that substandard performance in their own ballpark dipping to a paltry 77-85 record in home games over the last two seasons.
Several factors have played into that poor track record over the last few years — be it an imperfect lineup lacking pop, injuries, pitching deficiencies, or a porous defensive infield.
But a busy offseason for Craig Breslow — coupled with the arrival of several blue-chip prospects — offered hope that the Red Sox would return to playing pinball all across every nook and cranny at Fenway in 2025.
That hope was reinforced this weekend — with Boston ushering in another home slate this summer by whalloping the Cardinals in a three-game sweep.
Boston scored a whopping 36 runs over the three-game series against St. Louis — culminating in an 18-7 drubbing Sunday night in the second leg of a day-night doubleheader.
The Red Sox — winners of five straight and their first three-game sweep at home since July 2023 — doled out 22 hits in that late game on Sunday, standing as the most racked up by an MLB team so far this season.
And sure enough, Boston’s reworked lineup has made a sizable impact already when it comes to the volleys of baseballs ricocheting off of bleacher seats and the Monster.
By signing a right-handed slugger with pop in Alex Bregman in the offseason, carving out a starting role for rookie second baseman Krisitan Campbell (also a right-handed bat), and shifting Rafael Devers to DH, Breslow made his intentions clear.
Boston needed to build a batting order capable of taking advantage of Fenway’s dimensions with that short left field — while also limiting the wear and tear on the team’s top offensive threat in Devers.
The results speak for themselves — at least through these first three games against St. Louis.
After opening the year 0-for-19 with 15 strikeouts, Devers is now 10-for-19 (.526) in his last five games with eight runs scored, three doubles, a home run, seven RBI and just two strikeouts. The full-time DH had his best game yet on Sunday — going 4-for-4 at the plate with a pair of doubles out to left center.
Beyond Bregman’s pedigree as a proven winner during his years with the Astros, the Red Sox handed the veteran third baseman a three-year, $120 million contract this offseason because of his established track record of teeing off at Fenway.
He was a one-man wrecking crew on Sunday, going 4-for-5 with two doubles, a three-run shot to center field, and a whopping six RBI in the victory.
In 24 career games at Fenway Park, Bregman is now slashing .387/.496/.774 with 29 runs scored, 12 doubles, eight home runs, and 22 RBI.
“Really happy, really excited for the both of us,” Devers said postgame to MassLive’s Sean McAdam of the 1-2 punch provided by him and Bregman. “I’m really happy hitting with him because he’s a superstar. As a team, we had a really great game, up and down (the lineup). I think that’s something we can expect for this year, to have performances like we had tonight.”
Both Devers and Bregman are far from the only key cogs in the lineup that have been pulling their weight.
Wilyer Abreu has arguably been the best hitter in baseball to open the season — as he leads all qualified hitters in AVG (.483), OBP (.595), SLG (.897), and OPS (1.492) through Boston’s first 10 games.
Jarren Duran set the table for Devers and Bregman with a 3-for-5 night with three runs scored, while Campbell (1-for-4, one run scored, walk) is now the third Red Sox player ever to reach base in each of their first 10 career games at age 22 or younger. The only other players to accomplish that feat in Boston during the live ball era? George Scott (1966) and Ted Williams (1939).
Add in a strong showing from another right-handed pull hitter in Trevor Story on Friday, along with more encouraging performances from Carlos Narvaez (2-for-4, two doubles) and Ceddanne Rafaela (3-for-4) on Sunday — and Boston’s lineup is just a Triston Casas surge (.167 batting average) away from firing on all cylinders.
The Red Sox won’t continue to average 12 runs a game at Fenway Park as this 2025 season drags on.
But if this three-game set against St. Louis was any indication, the Red Sox don’t intend on making games at home a coin flip any more — especially with the expectations starting to rise around this team already.
“The energy in the ballpark has been electric, the fans have been amazing,” Bregman told McAdam. “Obviously, this is one of the most treasured destinations to play baseball, so when teams come in here, they’re going to bring their A game, so we need to be on top of it.
“We want to defend Fenway and play well at home this year. I think we did a good job here this first series and let’s keep it going.”
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