The Boston Red Sox have gotten off to a shockingly good start to the 2024 season. After another dull offseason with no impressive changes made by the front office, few expected Boston to impress in any capacity.
The starting rotation got off to the most unexpected start of any group on the team. Boston not adding any frontline starting pitching was the talk of the winter for MLB insiders and reporters (besides the top-tier free-agent stories, of course). Now that the Sox pitchers are on a hot streak, fans and media personalities are being roped in after threatening to boycott the club all offseason.
Adam Jones of WEEI's "Jones and Mego" show admitted to skipping out on Red Sox spring training baseball due to the negativity surrounding the team. After he saw Boston's pitching dominate on Opening Day, he swiftly changed his mind about paying attention to the club.
Jones is far from the only one to flip on the Sox early in the season. Many members of Red Sox Nation flocked to social media to share their thoughts about Boston's better-than-anticipated record. Newfound confidence has been running through Red Sox fans lately, and after all of the disappointment from the offseason, embracing their successes is a nice change of pace.
But what ever happened to boycotting the team?!
Adam Jones admits that he's fallen in love with this Red Sox team! 😍
— Jones & Mego with Arcand (@JonesandMego) March 29, 2024
What will it take for you to buy into the Red Sox? pic.twitter.com/m43CfQhb9J
The Red Sox's good start to the 2024 season has shocked Boston media
NBC Sports Boston's Red Sox reporter John Tomase took his thoughts in another direction. The front office opted not to spend money on the Red Sox this offseason because they believed American League East was too deep for it to be worth their time. Every team besides the Red Sox finished with a winning record last season, and the Orioles and Yankees both got better.
Now that Boston's pitching is off to a historic start, it seems possible that the team could be able compete in the AL East. Andrew Bailey turned Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck into the most dominant rotation through the first six games — imagine what he could have done with proven, experienced starting pitchers.
.@jtomase reacts to the Red Sox' 3-2 start to the season: "Why did [they] just give up? and that's clearly what ownership did... come July, they are gonna regret that decision" pic.twitter.com/UHjBKFbquo
— NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSBoston) April 2, 2024
Tomase suggested the Red Sox are a better club than ownership imagined. It wouldn't take an excessive amount of money or too many players to transform the Red Sox from playoff contenders to division winners, or maybe even more. That wasn't the initial sentiment, though. It was "this team is terrible, we need to make it better!" Now it's " ... this team might be good? Why didn't we make it better?!"
But there's still a lot of baseball left to play. Boston fans have been the victims of some serious bad luck when it comes to the Red Sox in recent years. There's plenty of time for things to fall to the wayside. We've all seen it before.
Nonetheless, being shocked by how good the Sox look is better than getting what fans thought was coming — another lackluster, uncompetitive ball club. There will be trials and tribulations this season, as there are every year, but the Red Sox just might be able to hang on.