It was an extremely rough month of June for the Boston Red Sox, and with the shocking blockbuster trade that sent fan favorite and former offensive backbone Rafael Devers to San Francisco, ending the terrible month with confusion and worry that what used to be a season of “The Future is Now” where they were hoping not just to win the AL East, but vie for a shot at the World Series, were tossed down the drain. However, over the past week or so, since the 15-1 blowout against a hot Toronto team, this iteration of the Red Sox is beginning to find itself where they envisioned being during a very successful offseason: fighting for postseason play going into the All-Star break, equipped with the franchise’s 10,000th win, their second in a row reaching double digits.

While the club’s first half has been anything but a glowing success, despite having one of the easiest schedules to start the season, this team has undergone several iterations before finding this successful young group, which has seemed to get this team back on track. Yes, Garrett Crochet has become a locked-down certified ace and has lived up to every expectation set, if not exceeded already. Yes, Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony have been successful additions who appear to have been playing in the majors for years, despite both of them making their respective debuts this year. Yes, it’s been exciting to see Bregman. Yoshida’s recovery processes exceed expectations, which could give the Red Sox their best season-long run to make a play at first place in the division, where they currently sit 6.5 games back of the Blue Jays, Yankees, and Rays. With the series win to close out the previous homestand against the Reds, a stellar Independence Day game in the nation’s capital to start three against the Nats. The ability to grab a winning streak before four important games against Tampa, in which the Red Sox could finally make their way out of the third-place-forth-place limbo if they can catch enough wins against the Nats, Colorado, and the Rays. However, two notable saving graces have significantly impacted the trajectory of this team in recent weeks, which many were ready to write off just a week ago.

The @RedSox put up 🔟 to climb back to .500 😤 pic.twitter.com/QWf4wwKkyW

— MLB (@MLB) July 5, 2025

A New Approach to Offense

After a rough 3-6 road trip out west, one that included seeing former long-time superstar Rafael Devers succeed with his new team, all while the Red Sox offense continued to flounder. The team was in desperate need of a spark, and if one were to examine the offensive sample size of the team immediately after Devers’ departure, things would be grim. In the nine games immediately following the Devers deal, the Red Sox averaged 3.11 runs per game with a .188 average and .573 OPS. So, on the plane ride back to Boston, before the Red Sox prepped for a six-game homestand that started against the Toronto Blue Jays, manager Alex Cora and fan favorite scapegoat, hitting coach Pete Fatse, decided there needed to be a new approach.

One immediate move as soon as they headed back into the office? They moved the couch that once sat in Cora’s office over to the tape room, hoping to make the space more comfortable for the players, in the hope that they would want to spend more time there. The other change was a more individualized one, switching the setting of the hitter’s meeting from a group to a one-on-one approach. With the team’s lineup featuring a range of experience in the major leagues, this shift to more personal hitter meetings is a good call that allows Fatse to take a different approach with each player, one that is tailored to what each member of the lineup needs to hear for a successful strategy at the plate. In group settings, it’s easier for players to hide behind more talkative members of the group, but in an individualized setting, it’s more challenging to hide the insecurities or flaws one might be missing, grinding at-bat after at-bat.

With a lot of the offensive heavy lifting coming from the younger core of this team, these players, three of whom (at least from the position side) are affecting this club as rookies on the major league roster. These young players may require different questions and/or a different approach in these meetings than those of a seasoned veteran like Trevor Story (who has been playing like the Story of old) or even a player who has been in the majors for a while who knows what an MLB scouting report might have to say about them, such as Wilyer Abreu or Jarren Duran. For rookie Roman Anthony, one of the team’s most recent call-ups, the individual game plan (along with some guidance from Bregman) has been just what he needed to get acclimated to the bigs. The 21-year-old is in the midst of his best stretch since debuting on June 9th. Entering the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds, Anthony had hit safely in five straight games and was 9-for-22 (.409) with four doubles. Both veterans and younger guys are finding these personalized meetings successful, and Cora and Fatse are hoping the recent changes will help. Baseball is a game of details, and with each player sitting down with the hitting staff to address these minor or major issues one might have at the plate, any or all tips or tricks could allow this team to go on a run similar to the 2024 team.

In addition to the backend work the coaching staff has been doing, there have been some notable changes to the offensive approach. During the Sox’s second game against the Nats, there was the noteworthy absence of Marcelo Mayer, and in his place is fellow rookie Nate Eaton. While Eaton played well, Cora’s choice to “shake it up” while trying to play yourself back into a wildcard spot right before the break is a choice. In addition to Eaton’s name being on today’s lineup card, it was also interesting to see that he was placed atop the Red Sox starting nine. The usual leadoff man, Jarren Duran, had fallen to seventh; however, the trio of him, Abraham Toro, and Ceddanne Rafaela bottoming out the lineup is essentially like having a top three in your bottom three, giving a pitcher a workout from the first to the ninth batter, with no breaks in between. With the word of Yoshia’s potential activation from the IL in the Sox’s next homestand against the Rockies and Alex Bregman not far behind, it’s nice to see the young core of this current iteration of the lineup getting what they need out of the coaching staff and one another while they await offensive reinforcements.

No doubter! 💥 pic.twitter.com/Faz65bVsn7

— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 5, 2025

The Rotation’s “Next Man Up” Mentality

One of the longer-form successes that has allowed this team to stay afloat, one that continues to shine as the offense finds its footing, is the team’s pitching staff’s successful flexibility, most notably in its starting rotation. One of the other most recent struggles has been the inability to find a second pitcher to deliver the knockout blow after a Garrett Crochet start is a successful win at the top of the rotation. Initially, given how he had begun the season, many, including me, thought it would be Walker Buehler. However, each start has gotten worse over time. Despite his most recent start being a moderate success since Buehler’s return from the injured list, he, too, hasn’t found success. Before today’s game, his last win was noted as June 11th, with his control low and his morale lower. In the wake of Buehler’s struggles, though, a new “second” has emerged. Lucas Giolito, while he’s had some rough outings, has been absolutely dominant since the blow-up performance he had against the Angels. Since that start, June 4th, he has had five starts, all of which he’s gone six innings or deeper, and has struck out at least four (and as many as ten) in each performance. When Breslow signed Lucas Giolito, he was looking for a new place to call home and excel after a rough few seasons following his White Sox tenure. While many did not have the privilege of seeing the work he was putting in during the beginning of his Red Sox tenure, he and Andrew Bailey have continued to work through his injuries, now allowing him to adjust to the workload of pitching every fifth day. Now that he’s settled, he’s become the number two, which, with that stability, could allow the Red Sox to open their net to a broader array of positions to shop for at the deadline, if the Sox can position themselves to be buyers going into the break.

At the start of the season, the additions of Crochet and Walker Buehler to the Cerberus of Bello, Houck, and Crawford (with Giolito needing a trip to the IL after a freak injury during Spring Training, and former Angels southpaw Patrick Sandoval on the mend as well), their starting rotation was going to be a tough lot to face. Very quickly into the season, however, that narrative soon revealed itself to be untrue. Bello and Giolito started the season on the IL, despite both of them finding their rhythm on the mound again with Narvárez behind the dish. Kutter Crawford was placed on the 60-Day IL during Spring Training and, more recently, has been shut down for the entire 2025 season. Tanner Houck is currently in the midst of his rehab assignment in Portland, where, in his most recent outing on Independence Day, he had five scoreless innings and struck out four. However, before Houck went on the IL, he was struggling mightily to begin the season, especially with his command and location on all his pitches, but specifically his offspeed offerings. The rotation hasn’t been even close to what anyone envisioned for the Red Sox, but time and time again, we’ve seen a new hero emerge every fifth day for this team, in addition to the bullpen, which has withstood so much.

Total control. 💪 pic.twitter.com/wmlnKRYXJN

— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 4, 2025

Even when the rotation was on the brink of falling off the tracks to begin the season, when three-fifths of their original starters were nowhere to be seen, it was at that time that Crochet and the rookies held their own, keeping the Red Sox in the race defensively with their best stuff. The duo of Hunter Dobbins and Richard Fitts both began the season pitching extremely well in their respective rookie seasons for the big league club, despite both pitchers also going through IL stints. Both young hurlers have a natural ability on the mound, and it was clear that pitching coach Andrew Bailey had some preference for Fitts, but when he went down, Dobbins’ opportunity began to open up. The red-headed righty has a 4-1 record and 4.10 ERA over 12 appearances and 10 starts, with just his most recent outing showing some weakness during the Red Sox’s rough trip out west. After the loss, he was also placed on the IL with a right elbow strain. With that, Fitts has returned to the big leagues for another chance, following his first stint cut short due to his trip to the injured list. Fitts, who luckily has this second chance, had previously made five starts for the Red Sox this season with a 4.71 ERA after winning a job in the rotation out of Spring Training.

With these two young guns showing us all that the future is bright for pitching depth, the veteran Giolito finding himself again, and the new approach to the offense, Red Sox are starting to take shape, making one think that with a hot start to the second half, they could be the 2025 postseason’s version of last year’s Tigers. With the team finally starting to work as a unit, it begins to change the narrative of a once dismal season, also altering the tune on what many might think the Sox will do at the trade deadline, which looms not long after the All-Star festivities in Atlanta conclude. As the team continues to hum and gel with their newest iteration, it’ll be exciting to see how these adjustments prepare the team for the second half, as this special group of guys sits so close to October baseball.