It's time to get bold.
The beauty of baseball is that it's unpredictable, and the Boston Red Sox are among the most unpredictable teams in MLB heading into the 2025 season. They've defined mediocrity for five of the last six years, but there's reason for optimism heading into the new campaign.
In the latest installment of our "Spring Storylines" series, our three-person panel shared their boldest Red Sox predictions for 2025. Their boldness level depends on your outlook on the Red Sox' bounce-back chances after adding Alex Bregman, Garrett Crochet, and Walker Buehler in the offseason. If you're an optimist, they may not be that bold after all.
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More "Spring Storylines"
- Predicting the 2025 Red Sox' regular-season record
- Biggest key to Red Sox ending postseason drought
- Who will be Red Sox' MVP and Cy Young?
- Who will be Red Sox' breakout star in 2025?
Here's what we came up with. . .
Justin Leger: Red Sox win the American League East
You read that correctly. Boston takes home the AL East crown for the first time since 2018.
Any Red Sox optimism is considered "bold" after a half-decade of disappointment, but we're getting extra bold with this one. With the Alex Bregman addition topping off a solid offseason, this club finally has the firepower to overtake their biggest competition in the division: the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles.
Perhaps this prediction isn't as bold as we think. FanGraphs' projected 2025 AL East standings have the Red Sox finishing in second place.
Nick Goss: Red Sox make the playoffs
This might not be super bold, but given how much the Red Sox have struggled in recent years, making the playoffs would be a huge step forward for this franchise. The last time the Sox missed the playoffs in three straight years, they won the World Series the following year in 2013. That won't happen in 2025, but plenty of improvement should be made.
Darren Hartwell: Red Sox have three-plus All-Stars for the first time since 2021, but Bregman isn't one of them
Yes, it's been four years since Boston sent more than two players to the Midsummer Classic. That relative drought finally ends in 2025, but not thanks to free-agent addition Alex Bregman, who takes a bit to find his footing with his new team. (Bregman is a career .260 hitter with an .805 OPS in games before the All-Star break, compared to .291 and .906 in games after the break.)
Instead, it's newly-acquired ace Garrett Crochet, third baseman Rafael Devers and first baseman Triston Casas getting the call to Atlanta, with Casas leading the team in home runs entering All-Star Weekend.
