It is official, the Boston Red Sox are 464-464 since winning the 2018 World Series, exactly a .500 baseball team through and through. “We didn’t play well today,” a now-defeated Alex Cora said in his postgame interview after a Brewers sweep. A grey cloud is hanging over this 2025 Red Sox team, despite many projecting it to be “the year of the Red Sox.” However, after a messy and inconsistent start to the season, many are left scratching their heads, wondering how a team so strong on paper can be producing at such a mediocre level. Just like the last few seasons, the team is still in the rut of playing mediocre baseball, and at this point, it’s just getting harder to watch with each passing game. After this sweep, with a team also playing .500 baseball right now, though, after this series, there was one key difference between these two ball clubs: the Brewers looked like a wildcard contender, and the Red Sox did not.

They didn’t just look bad; they looked the worst they had in a while. It’s no secret that morale is low for the team and fans; however, there has been one bright spot, so we can start with the good. Seeing Marcelo Mayer excel in the big league club has been nice. Deemed the Red Sox’s “hottest” player in the NESN postgame show, his MLB debut has been spectacular. Anyone who has followed this top prospect since he was selected fourth overall in the 2021 draft knows that he has something special and could be the defibrillator that could wake up this offense, seeing that he batted fourth in the lineup for today’s finale against Milwaukee. While they have reached their worst stretch of the season so far, it’s almost inevitable that changes will soon be made. They have to, if they don’t, this hellish neutral will be the destroyer of a once highly regarded contender coming into the 2025 season. Consistency is the keyword for all the ways the Sox could make positive changes. To play consistent baseball is to play successful baseball.

One thing that should change is the constant testing of these young prospects’ baseball IQ while adjusting to the big leagues. Kristian Campbell has undeniable talent; anyone watching him can see he has the tools to be the next Dustin Pedroia in terms of a stable everyday player at second. The chronological last member of “The Big Three,” drafted from Georgia Tech in 2023, was named MLB’s Rookie of the Month for the month(s) of March/April. He was terrific at the start of the season, even carrying the same weight as the recent Red Sox’s Hercules, Mayer, batting fourth and being a focal point in both the Red Sox’s offensive and defensive alignments. Now, having most of his starts at second base, which up to this point was a revolving door, it’s been nice to have a reliable option holding down the middle infield. For the past few seasons, it has seemed like a “non-issue” having this crucial part of the infield be a revolving door position. While Campbell is in this skid, it’s hard to watch Cora insist on moving the once-favorite Rookie of the Year Candidate around the diamond while he’s seemingly lost at the plate right now, despite his once all-star numbers.

It feels as though the managerial staff feels he is not just the glue to the infield but the entire defense, which is a lot to put on the young rookie. In addition to his forty-two games where he started at second, Campbell has also had two games starting in left, and six in centerfield, showing that the versatility is there; however, in May, he hasn’t had the best go of it at the plate. Going from a .301 (31-for-103) with four homers, 12 RBI, eight doubles, 19 walks, 18 runs scored, two stolen bases in March/April, to a .188 (21-for-112) with two home runs and 36 strikeouts. Additionally, he was showing comfort at the plate with a .407 on-base percentage, a .495 slugging percentage, and a .902 OPS within his first 29 career games to begin the season; however, those numbers are starting to dip as well, now that he’s been moving around more. Whether he’ll be the everyday second baseman or, now in the running, the everyday first baseman remains to be seen, but with his first start at first anticipated for this weekend in Atlanta, it’ll be nice to give Campbell some defensive stability so he can spend his time locking in at the plate once more.

Keeping Campbell at second more consistently also leads to the next thing that could help this struggling Sox lineup start to look alive. According to Cora, giving Trevor Story, the “everyday shortstop,” some more normalcy with a consistent double play partner could give him more stability in the field, allowing him to produce better at the plate. The once great Colorado Rockie has had a very injury-prone stint in Boston, and with this being his longest he’s been healthy with the team, and it has been disappointing to say the least. As someone who was a Trevor Story apologist, I find it hard to watch this vet struggle. ​​In May 2025, Trevor Story’s offensive performance for the Red Sox was statistically poor. He has batted just .127 (15-for-115) with a .63 OPS. Specifically, he’s had 15 hits in 115 at-bats, with two extra-base hits and six RBIs. His struggles are evident in his OPS, which is 37% worse than the league average, and his 161st ranking among 169 players. It’s been rough. One thing Story does love, however, is a teaching opportunity. Having hosted “Story Camp” the past few years for the young Red Sox infield, he’s wanted to work with the young players who he assumed would play beside him as he thrives during his six year contract, and also loves to discuss his That hasn’t been the case, and many, in turn, have turned their backs on the struggling Story. He hasn’t won over a lot of Red Sox Nation in the short stints he’s been healthy, but perhaps giving the veteran a consistent partner, a younger counterpart to “coach” and gel with, could help the near “DFA-able” veteran.

The last thing that should be mentioned as a potential significant change is solidifying Carlos Narváez and Rob Refsnyder as everyday players. Whether this means giving Ceddanne Rafaela more reps in the infield to allow Duran to shift to center and have Refsnyder settle in left field or give him a go at first base, his bat needs to be in the lineup more. The same can be said for the Red Sox rookie catcher, Narváez, who has proven a fantastic pickup from the Yankees. Coming into the season, many were excited to see Wong continue to break out like he did in 2024, but that time never came. To begin the season, he was not swinging well, then was injured, allowing Narváez to swoop in, and it seems as though whenever “The Narv” is in the lineup, the Sox’s offensive production just seems to be better. It doesn’t hurt that his defensive numbers behind the plate are more reliable than Wong’s. Every chance Wong has gotten, he has not been able to deliver. Narváez has been able to show up when the team has needed him most, as has Refsnyder. Giving these two position players more playing time could also spark this sputtering offense, as they always seem to come in clutch, especially when the bigger names in the lineup either can’t hit productively or aren’t playing.

Carlos Narváez is of the most underrated rookies in BASEBALL

He’s raking, AND he’s a brick wall behind the dish

The Yankees traded him to Boston this past December pic.twitter.com/62HOAeBnl8

— Fuzzy (@fuzzyfromyt) May 29, 2025

Everyone can agree that whatever moves are made will be better than what is happening now. The team needs to redistribute its weight. There seems to now be a lot of pressure on the rookies, and if we redirect some of the more silent veteran players, like Ref and Story, are trying to step up in their respective ways, and, at least in Story’s case, if he starts to produce more like how he did today laying down the sac-bunt to move Nick Sogard over, just doing something a vet would know how to read a situation and do while they’re slumping, is essentially all anyone can ask of him right now while he’s in this slump. As mentioned before, to play consistent baseball is to play good baseball, and that’s what the Sox need to do right now: just play consistent baseball. With an off day tomorrow, they will be moving down to Atlanta to open a three-game set against the Braves, who will be coming off a doubleheader with the Phillies on Thursday. Hopefully, we will get some good, productive news tomorrow, but until then, Red Sox fans, take care of each other right now.