The Boston Red Sox have been underwhelming at home in recent seasons, and the crowds at Fenway Park have reflected it.
Boston has posted a sub-.500 record at Fenway in 2023-23 in front of hundreds of empty seats and away fans. But the vibes are different in 2025, and the change began with the Sox's first home at-bat.
The Red Sox jumped out to an early lead against Eric Fedde and the Cardinals — something they struggled to do in their season-opening series against the Rangers. Jarren Duran drilled a hard single and stole second base to immediately get into scoring position, and Rafael Devers worked a walk to avoid any further on-base woes.
Alex Bregman, who has a history of success at Fenway Park during his time with the Astros, wasted no time making an impression on Boston fans. He laced a double down the third-base line to score Duran and advance Devers to third base in his first Red Sox at-bat at Fenway. The packed home crowd gave the Sox's former enemy a raucous welcome, and their cheers endured through the batting order.
Trevor Story followed Bregman's debut with a bang. He cracked a towering three-run homer off the top of the Green Monster, his second of the season. Story dropped his bat and cheered as he began his trot around the bases. The Red Sox greeted him at the top of the dugout steps with a new home run celebration — the shortstop donned a Wally the Green Monster helmet as he received congratulations from his teammates.
Red Sox bats explode for five runs in first inning of Fenway Park opener against the Cardinals, Trevor Story and Wilyer Abreu drill back-to-back homers
WILYER WANTS ONE TOO!!
— NESN (@NESN) April 4, 2025
The #RedSox go back-to-back 💣💣 https://t.co/rUPPq5sIgU pic.twitter.com/GtbCnyfFal
Just as the new homer celebration debuted, the Sox used it again. Wilyer Abreu followed Story's blast with a solo shot to left field to lift Boston to an early 5-0 lead over the Cardinals. Abreu has been the Red Sox's best bat early in the 2025 season, a shocking development since the outfielder lost nearly his entire spring training and lots of weight to the stomach bug that ravaged Sox camp. He's slashed .474/.615/1.053 with a staggering 1.668 OPS through his second at-bat in the opener at Fenway.
Kristian Campbell fanned, Carlos Narváez walked and Ceddanne Rafaela grounded out to end Boston's explosive first inning, but Abreu's dominance continued on defense. With one out and St. Louis' Alec Burleson on first base, Iván Herrera knocked a sinking liner to right field. Abreu raced in to meet it and dove just in time for the ball to fall into his glove.
The Cardinals swung their way back into the game against Walker Buehler, and the score was 6-5, Boston, by the middle of the fifth inning. Still, Bregman continuing his long history of success at Fenway Park, a healthy Story and Abreu's dominance on both sides of the ball could be signs of excellent things to come in 2025. Red Sox fans waited nearly half a decade for the front office to finish its rebuild, and the early goings of their home opener was the show Boston needed to get back into baseball.