Red Sox Fans Divulge Hopes & Concerns About Team As Boston Takes Home Opener

[Nick John]

Boston, MA – As fans prepared for the home opener between their beloved Boston Red Sox and the visiting San Diego Padres, there was a consistent feeling shared between them.

“You have to win today.”

The sentiment, shared between several fans who were waiting in anticipation for the game at the Section 10 podcast pregame show, was not surprising. The Red Sox returned home with a 1-5 record after the first week of the season, including a three-game sweep at the hands of the Houston Astros. Everyone, from pundits to the players, was growing impatient despite being just six games into the campaign, which can be traced back to the team's rollercoaster offseason.

“It’s clear [Craig] Breslow had a plan for what he wanted. But it’s also obvious it didn’t go how he wanted. You lose [Alex] Bregman and replace him with [Caleb] Durbin. Now after saying you wanted to add power, you go and switch it to [the team] being all about run prevention,” one fan passionately said when asked about their thoughts on the team's direction. Others in the area agreed, wondering why the team didn’t make a bigger push for a player like Pete Alonso or how Masataka Yoshida remained with the team despite the outfield already having a logjam for playing time.

Despite the tough start to the season, though, there's no lack of belief in the team.

“It’s kind of disappointing, but at the same time it’s only been six games. They still have over 150 games to go and now they’re back at Fenway. Hopefully they can get some momentum,” another fan shared.

“Garbage, but garbage can always be taken out to the curb, and you can start clean and fresh. Have to start playing better, there’s just been a lot of bad starts happening at the same time. I’m not worried — there’s a lot of baseball left to be played."

One player who has struggled mightily in the early going is offseason trade acquisition Caleb Durbin, the infielder entering the day as the only qualified hitter in the majors without a hit. Fans were growing impatient with him, and it showed as some booed the infielder upon hitting into a double play in his first at-bat that he didn’t immediately run on. The play in question resulted in what looked to be a foul ball that went a grand total of one foot in front of the plate that the ump signaled was actually fair. During his next time up, fans were playfully teasing him from the stands.

“Are you a man or a mouse, Durbin? Prove them wrong, Durbin,” one fan could be heard yelling.

Another joined in, claiming that “IKF [Isiah Kiner-Falefa] will replace you mid-game if you don’t get a hit.”

Durbin’s second at-bat was more productive, as he hit a single to drive in Jarren Duran and give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.  

The entire team entered the day under fire, and they responded to the call. Starter Sonny Gray delivered in his Fenway debut, tossing six dominant innings. Allowing just two runs on four hits, he struck out three and didn’t walk a batter as he allowed the Red Sox offense a chance to finally break through in the bottom of the sixth inning.

And break through they did, crushing two home runs in the frame and handing the Red Sox a 5-2 lead. The bullpen, led by Greg Weissert, Justin Slaten and Aroldis Chapman, tossed three scoreless innings as the Red Sox won their home opener and snapped their five-game losing streak.

Fans cheered with excitement but weren’t ready to say things were turned around just yet. One fan pointed out that the team continued to make the same mistakes that have been issues the past few seasons, while another reminded everyone that “It’s only one game; love seeing them win, but they have to do this consistently,”

A loss in the subsequent contest certainly didn't help to rattle any nerves, but the friendly confines of Fenway have clearly woken this team up from their early season slumber. Hopefully, the rest of the homestand will prove just as productive as the first game against the Padres.

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[TedYazPapiMookie]

Why 2026 could end up being a disaster.

1 - Cora is manager despite all his failings.  He came to Boston with no MLB experience except being a weak player for a decade and a bench coach with an excellent Houston organization who ended up cheating to win.  After many years he still can't set a daily line-up because his player evaluation is biased and his knowledge of how to use long-time accepted rules of thumb in setting a batting order was never learned as a player.  Also, his complete lack of knowledge on handling a pitching staff bites the team in the rear-end at least 4 games a week and often multiple times per game.  As a former bench coach, his big skill was speaking two languages.  Half a decade later it still is.  Motivated team?  Nope.  Choices made based on performance not personal relationships is the norm.  An understanding of how to set your team based on their skillsets?  Nope.  All his experience hasn't expanded his knowledge.

What has Cora done since he was handed a guaranteed winning team in 2018?  We used his knowledge of cheating from Houston to attempt to cheat in Boston and was fortunate to escape with no conviction for his Boston activities with the Media Room.  He created a divide between Ownership and the best GM in team history and then destroyed the chances of post-World Series winning by telling pitchers to show up two weeks late for Spring Training which led to a series of pitching injuries in 2019.  That in turn impacted ownership to give up their franchise player for nothing in an embarrassing trade with the new GM's mentor.  He got invited back after being convicted of a crime that should have ended his career.  Why?  To keep a relationship with the Dominican Republic Baseball Academy?  Who knows?  The public wasn't informed by ownership why they would rehire a convicted cheater, they just did it and disappeared to avoid any fallout.  Nearly a decade has gone by since Cora arrived, and Cora has had a losing record with no Division Titles, rings or legitimate post season appearances where they had comparable talent to those they opposed.  That's still true today.

2 - Ownership is weak and confused as to how to profit from sustained winning.  Their formula is to win then turnover the team in their prime.  Yes, it's not a winning strategy.  The peaks have been high and short lived for them and the demolition history has been long and devastating.  Bloom did the biggest butcher job under the premise of building the farm system but that never happened.  Cherrington made enough mistakes to cost the owners millions in profits and create a general distrust in GMs.  Heck, even when the GMs were doing things right (Theo and DD) they still fired the GM.  Breslow shot life back into a dead franchise in 2025 and the owners sucked the life back out so the 2026 season will be a time to accumulate profits not make another run at winning.

3 - Fan base.  Boston fans of old are being replaced by short concentration fans who like the winning but otherwise don't care much if they aren't winning.  They focus on people not success.  That's why an unsuccessful and untalented manager (Cora) and GM (Bloom) never got run out of town when their lacking talent and success were made public quickly after being hired.  The percentage of diehard fans has dropped so dramatically.  Those of us who have been supporting the team a half century are now fading into the sunset with age and the new generation simply lacks passion due to the many life distractions that exist today and no history of living their lives around the game.  The Mookie trade should have created a massive uproar in Boston, instead, the uproar came from LA where they stole a generational player.  If the team continues to skid in April, May attendance will be dismal based on the current fan base loyalty.

4 - NESN and the media.  Just like the press does on most topics, it obscures the truth when it comes to specific players, managers, GMs and owners.  Politically correct ideas and values for the Boston area have left the fans confused about who contributes to the success of the Red Sox and who tears down the success of the Red Sox.  Public opinion is completely controlled by the media so players like Abreu, Mayer, Narvaez/Wong, Contreras and Bello are hyped well beyond their skill levels.  In the meantime, the core guys who carry the club don't get the recognition they deserve by the press.  Those players include Duran, Rafaela, Yoshida, Casas, Campbell, Houck and Crawford.  Yes, Crochet is great and the press is fair to hype him.  Early is going to be great but the press focuses on Anthony only when it comes to young stars.  They tried to include Mayer with Anthony, but the actual skill levels are so radically different they looked foolish.  Maybe if Cora was gone and the front office stopped dictating the viewpoints on players the fans might start enjoying all the players on the roster not just the entitled ones.  

So, will 2026 end up a disaster?  Time will tell.  Breslow could trade for a catcher, 3B, 2B, 1B and clear out some of the over-hyped players and improve the team, but that seems unlikely.  Cora could be fired but that too seems unlikely despite being obvious.  Tolle could find an off-speed pitch and get promoted and Suarez and Gray could start pitching like they are capable and maybe the team could win more games with their pitching.  That would be nice.  If Crochet had a lengthy injury, the team probably would tank for a high draft pick.  The spectrum of success is huge in 2026.  They could win 81 games as is, 90 with improvements and 70 with injuries.  Let's hope for the 90 with improvements.