A timeline of the Red Sox front office's dismantling of the 2018 team

The 2018 Boston Red Sox were the most successful regular-season team in franchise history. Their 108 wins are the third most in the 21st century behind the 2001 Mariners and the 2022 Dodgers. With a young core mixed with high-quality veterans, it felt like a dynasty was about to start.

That wasn't the reality, though. In 2019, despite bringing back the entire core of the team, the Red Sox only won 84 games and missed the playoffs.

Then the tear-down started. John Henry wasn't willing to pay Mookie Betts the fair market contract he was asking for, looking for a team-friendly deal instead, and decided to trade him to try and retain some of the value.

On February 10, 2020, the Red Sox dealt the star outfielder to the Dodgers, attaching David Price and the final three years of his seven-year contract, for Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong, and Jeter Downs.

How each key member of the 2018 Boston Red Sox tenure with the club ended

The first dominoes to fall were actually closer Craig Kimbrel and reliever Joe Kelly. Then-GM Dave Dombrowski decided not to resign them after 2018. Then, at the end of 2019, the team would allow long-time starter Rick Porcello to leave in free agency. Dombrowski also left at the end of 2019, resulting in the hiring of Chaim Bloom.

After a long delay to the start of the 2020 season due to the pandemic, they finally started playing on July 24. The team struggled through the COVID season with Ron Roenicke at the helm (due to Alex Cora's one-year ban from the Astros' cheating scandal). Boston would sell at the deadline, first trading two key relievers, Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree, to the Phillies, then trading first baseman Mitch Moreland to the Padres.

The 2021 Red Sox were the first team to look significantly different from the 2018 team. The first member of the 2018 outfield made his exit during the offseason. Jackie Bradley Jr. found a new home for 2021 during free agency. Then just before spring training, the Red Sox dealt the hero of the 2018 ALCS, Andrew Benintendi, to the Royals in a three-team deal. The 2021 Red Sox only had four batters, three starters, and two key bullpen pieces left from 2018.

A run to the 2021 ALCS kept the team intact at the trade deadline, but following the season, another player departed. Eduardo Rodriguez signed with the Detroit Tigers prior to 2022 (but the Red Sox gave him the qualifying offer, and the pick they got for him became Roman Anthony, so this one is ok).

During 2022, Bloom attempted to buy and sell at the deadline. He ended up trading long-time catcher Cristian Vazquez to Houston, and even more championship players left at the end of the season. Nathan Eovaldi signed with Texas, J.D. Martinez signed with the Dodgers, and Xander Bogaerts signed with San Diego. In an offseason trade, Matt Barnes was also shipped off to Miami.

That left just three players headed in 2023: Ryan Brasier, Chris Sale, and Rafael Devers. Braiser was released in May 2023, only to sign with the Dodgers a few weeks later. Sale and Devers survived the season in Boston. Bloom was fired following the 2023 campaign, and Craig Breslow was brought in to fill his place. Sale made his exit via trade before 2024, being dealt to Atlanta.

The final remaining piece of an all-time great team was Devers. He was just 21 when they won in '18, and was signed to the largest contract in franchise history before the 2023 slate. Sox fans thought he was going to be the one to stick around to the next ring, but just a year and a half into the 10-year deal, he was traded mid-season to San Francisco, closing the book on the 2018 Red Sox.

When the Red Sox raised the commissioner's trophy in 2018, it felt like they had a team on the verge of winning multiple rings in a short span. Now, seven years later, that entire team is gone. Tore down by an ownership group unwilling to spend on its homegrown talent, and creating conflicts with the one it did. In baseball especially, it's hard to build a true dynasty, no team has won back-to-back since the Yankees won three from 1998-2000, but the Red Sox had a great team on their hands, and mismanaged it all away.