When news broke that a Netflix film crew would follow the 2024 Boston Red Sox as it filmed a docuseries on their season, fans across MLB were shocked.
They weren't taken aback by the production of a "Hard Knocks"-like baseball series, but that the Red Sox were chosen as the subject. The series announcement dropped as Boston was in the throes of its latest unimpressive offseason, and as Red Sox Nation anxiously awaited news that their favorite team signed Jorge Soler or Jordan Montgomery.
Neither of those signings ever came to fruition, but the season and the docuseries continued. Netflix's film crew could be seen in the dugouts during Red Sox games throughout the first half of the season. But Christopher Smith of MassLive recently shared that he hasn't seen the crew in quite a while.
The reporter shared on Sept. 4 that he hadn't seen the Netflix crew in "at least a month." In a later post, he clarified that he hadn't seen them for three to four weeks, but said the crew was present for the trade deadline.
Red Sox reporter Christopher Smith says he has not seen Netflix crew around the team 'in at least a month'
One thing's for sure — the Red Sox were much more fun to watch before the trade deadline. The Sox went into the All-Star break a season-high 11 games over .500, and it's been downhill ever since. On Sept. 4, Boston is just one game above .500 and slipping farther from wild card contention each day.
There's been no reporting about Netflix's sudden departure from the Red Sox's sidelines besides Smith's Sept. 4 Tweet, but Sox fans have their fair share of theories. Worcester Telegram & Gazette reporter Tommy Cassell shared a video that showed the Netflix crew filming the WooSox at Polar Park on Aug. 1, which falls outside of the "at least a month" timeline Smith shared since he'd last seen the crew.
The conditions of the Red Sox's agreement with Netflix are obviously not public, but a complete pause in filming in the middle of a wild card chase seems suspect. It's hard to believe the Red Sox and Netflix ended filming without local media catching wind of any changes in their plans. Smith didn't say with certainty that Netflix hasn't been around the team at all within the past month, just that he hasn't seen them himself recently.
Since no official report has been released about the termination of the series, it's likely still going forward as planned. If Smith's eye test is correct and the Netflix crew hasn't been around the team during one of its most tumultuous stretches of the year, it'll be interesting to see how the August and September chapters are portrayed.