Every season, the Boston Red Sox promise a grand plan, and every season Fenway’s faithful brace for the inevitable letdown. But hope, like Christmas every year, keeps appearing in the faces of Yawkey Way. The World Series remains the dangling carrot, equal parts dream and torment. So, unless Boston embraces a very specific course of action, it may stay nothing more than a story told in the past tense.

Get the most out of the young core

The young core in Boston this season isn’t fantasy fodder — it’s real, breathing, and has carried hope when veterans faltered. In 2025, guys like Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Payton Tolle, and others have forced the Sox to lean on them, whether with starting roles or as spark plugs. Anthony, especially since being called up in early June, has been tearing up pitching staffs, while Rafaela’s hustle in center plus his improved swing metrics have made him more than just a glove. Tolle’s rise through the minors and his big-league debut add a rare arm in a rotation that’s been taxed by injuries. These kids aren’t promising; they’ve delivered.

Anthony’s season has been electric: Over 71 games, he slashed .292/.396/.463, with 8 home runs, 32 RBIs, 48 runs scored before his oblique strain knocked him out. Rafaela, meanwhile, has made clear progress in plate discipline — reducing swing rates on bad zones, posting stretches of xwOBA above league average, and splitting time across outfield and infield positions. Tolle, though his Major League stat line is rough (6.08 ERA so far), rode a dominant minor-league season to his debut, showing strikeout stuff and innings volume that suggest upside.

But losing Anthony is a blow that ripples: Boston is 46-27 in games when he’s on the active roster, and 37-43 when he isn’t because of time in Triple-A or the IL. The team’s offense has visibly stalled since his absence, and with Wilyer Abreu also sidelined, the gap isn’t just statistical — the energy, the spark, the mismatch potential is missing. But it’s not doom.

These young players have shown resilience before: Rafaela’s improved swing-discipline, Tolle’s poise in debut, and even lesser names stepping up when depth thins.

If Boston really wants to squeeze every ounce from this youthful core, it must protect Anthony’s recovery, refuse to treat him like a stopgap, and manage his return so he enters the postseason healthy. They need to deploy Rafaela and others in roles that maximize their strengths (defense, speed, versatility) rather than shoehorn them where they won’t thrive. And perhaps most importantly, lean on this youth when things get tight — let them carry pressure, trust them in high-leverage moments. The young contingent isn’t just a safety net anymore; it’s the backbone. And if managed right, it might just pull Boston all the way back to the World Series.

The Red Sox veterans need to step up

Trevor Story entered 2025 carrying years of injuries, yet has shown flashes of revival with a .272/.314/.421 slash line and six stolen bases that remind fans of his old spark. Still, defensive lapses in late-season games have exposed cracks, moments where instinct failed him at crucial junctures. Those errors sting, but his incremental offensive gains and relentless grind suggest he can still be pivotal in October.

Alex Bregman’s arrival brought instant credibility. He opened with a .299 average, 11 homers, and 35 RBIs in 51 games before a quad strain slowed him down. Since then, slumps have dulled his edge: Fewer extra-base hits, a dip in patience, and stretches where he looked ordinary rather than cornerstone. Yet Bregman’s postseason experience remains invaluable, and even in decline, he carries the aura of a hitter capable of tilting games with one swing.

Masataka Yoshida, finally back after offseason shoulder surgery, has been cautiously deployed in a DH and platoon role, his bat not fully tested, but his presence is still crucial in a lineup desperate for stability against righties. Aroldis Chapman, meanwhile, has been Boston’s bullpen backbone, flashing a 1.23 ERA and 30+ saves, though late-season signs of drifting command hint at danger. If these veterans rediscover form together, the Red Sox avoid leaning solely on their kids. If they don’t, October could feel less like destiny and more like déjà vu heartbreak.

The Red Sox also need to improve their managerial decisions

Several recent decisions by Alex Cora, questionable bullpen pulls, and lineup choices have cost Boston crucial late leads dramatically. His choice to leave struggling starters in games produced multi-run innings that erased hard-earned advantages suddenly. Critics pointed specifically to bullpen management during one-run games, where timing and matchup logic fell apart. Those missteps created ripple effects, wearing out relievers, confusing young players, and undermining clubhouse confidence late.

Those blown games exposed tactical blind spots: Poor matchup use, slow hook timing, and unclear player roles. Avoiding repeat mistakes requires strict role definitions, quicker hooks, and bullpen leverage driven by matchup analytics. Practically, Cora should declare defined bullpen roles, shorten starter windows, and trust high-leverage relievers across innings. The team must also use September callups as tactical tools, not roster depth additions, for matchup flexibility.

If Cora fixes decision-making, Boston’s veterans and youngsters can breathe, and October could be deservedly chaotic. But another string of managerial miscues will transform hope into haunting, replaying chances that slipped through fingers.

The Red Sox need to improve their pitching

The Boston Red Sox starters have been shaky throughout 2025, and nobody embodied that instability more than Walker Buehler.

He came in with expectations, signed for $21.05 million, but stumbled to a 5.45 ERA, 82 strikeouts, and a career-high 55 walks over 112⅓ innings, before being moved to the bullpen and eventually released. Other starters also failed to consistently go deep into ballgames, leaving the bullpen overworked, which exposed relievers in high-leverage moments. The reliever corps has opened leads only to give them back; command issues, hard contact, and too many walks have made many saves or held messy affairs. If these mistakes happen in the postseason, every misthrown slider or missed cut fastball will echo in elimination.

Yet in the chaos, Aroldis Chapman has delivered one of the few certainties.

Since late July, he racked up a historic hitless stretch: Seventeen straight appearances without surrendering a hit, only four walks, striking out 21. He’s acted like the veteran anchor this bullpen desperately needs. But one arm can’t carry everything, right? The other relievers have to tighten their stuff, stick close to their routines, and show consistency on day-in, day-out duties. Only then can Boston hope to depend on depth and not just flashes.

To push toward a real World Series chance, the Red Sox must extract more from strugglers, stabilize the rotation ahead of October, manage reliever workloads intelligently, and avoid any further blown leads. They must demand that every pitcher—starter, middle reliever, setup, closer—treat each outing like a postseason inning. Because when October comes, there will be zero grace periods.

If Boston wants the next month to feel like triumph, they must get Anthony, Bregman, Story, Yoshida, and Chapman firing on all cylinders. The kids need freedom, the veterans need form, and Alex Cora needs to stop turning bullpen decisions into a choose-your-own-adventure nightmare. Fenway’s faithful won’t settle for hope sprinkled with chaos; they want execution, not excuses.

In 2025, the Red Sox can either be a story of redemption or a cautionary tale wrapped in green seats.