August 2025 made you feel…
Pretty good! A winning record in a month is always a plus. We had win streaks going. We took three of four from the Yankees and four of four from the Orioles in their own houses. Roman Anthony really started to dominate. Payton Tolle debuted. I can’t really complain. It seemed like every loss this month was extra annoying, though.
— Juliet Hurwitz
As someone who’s trying to be a more optimistic person overall, I’m trying not to let those “extra annoying” losses that Juliet mentioned take up too much
headspace in an overall successful August. But as I wrote this on the last day of the month, while the Red Sox were on a four-game losing streak at home and had lost two in a row to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Meanwhile, the Yankees were on a seven-game winning streak and had retaken second place in the AL East on the back of a series against the White Sox. With all of this being said, August has simultaneously made me feel like the Red Sox could make a deep playoff run at times while also looking like a team capable of not even making the postseason at others. They’ve really sunk to their competition at times (outside of that series in Baltimore), and that’s an unsustainable pathway for a team fighting down the stretch.
— Avery Hamel
Relieved? The last few seasons, the trade deadline has come and gone with little fanfare, and everyone thinks the sky is going to come crashing down. And then the sky comes crashing down. This season, the sky is yet to come crashing down, and we’re looking at a playoff run for the first time since 2021. At the very least, September will be meaningful, so I get to act like I’m better than people for not caring about football right away.
— Jacob Roy
Gaslit from the fallout of the trade deadline, but overall very happy. The Red Sox, for once in Alex Cora’s post-suspension tenure, did not fall apart in August and look every bit the playoff team they were predicted to be. They did not add enough at the trade deadline amongst a whole bunch of potential playoff teams that did, and Dustin May looks, well, not good through his first month. (Though, I will say, Steven Matz looks awesome.) The Red Sox are an awesome team, but they should have added more, and, should they exit the playoffs early, I will wonder if they could have gotten further with one more, or a higher quality, addition. The two don’t need to be mutually inclusive.
– Dean Roussel
Who was your favorite player in August?
Roman Anthony. He is all class, all talent, all poise, all power, and all athlete. And he’s only 21. It’s pretty amazing. Honorable mention for Payton Tolle too.
— Juliet Hurwitz
Roman Anthony is a simple and undoubtedly valid answer, but as someone from Colorado who’s been rooting for Trevor Story for nearly as long as I’ve been cognizantly watching baseball, his fairytale August made him my favorite player in August, and possibly Boston’s most valuable. Story hit five home runs last month, and the Red Sox went 5-0 when he did so. They went 13-5 when Story recorded a hit, and 4-5 when he didn’t. Those are some pretty solid contributions.
— Avery Hamel
Payton Tolle. The energy in the stadium while he was on the mound was incredible. He seemed to harness the debut adrenaline to his advantage, so who knows how his next outing will go, but those five innings were nothing short of electric. I hope we get to experience that a few more times this season.
— Jacob Roy
In August? Pains me to say this, but, it was Aroldis Chapman. Any time you can cuss out the defense and bullpen but still know a guy automatic enough to not allow even ONE hit in a MONTH is waiting on the other side of a close game is a great feeling.
– Dean Roussel
Roman Anthony, duh. I’m on my way to church to light a candle for him and you should be, too.
—Dan Secatore
Who was your least favorite player?
Jordan Hicks. Every time he got on the mound, I was convinced he was going to somehow make the game worse, and for the most part he would.
— Juliet Hurwitz
Jordan Hicks was bad. Walker Buehler was also bad. Abraham Toro was bad, bad. Masataka Yoshida and Jarren Duran were slightly bad. While there are a good amount of options to choose from, Jordan Hicks has to be the answer simply because of the fact that both Buehler and Toro are “gone,” while Hicks will likely be back on Boston’s 2026 opening roster for optics reasons that we won’t soon escape.
— Avery Hamel
Paul Skenes ruined Payton Tolle night. So him.
— Jacob Roy
Jordan Hicks. 7.36 ERA, almost a 2 WHIP, and the sinking feeling in my chest when I saw him warming up even when behind that knew that we probably weren’t winning that game. Plus, with Kyle Harrison likely starting in the next few days, because of how bad Hicks has been, any hiccups Harrison faces in his infancy on the Major League roster is only going to exacerbate the bad feelings about the thinly veiled salary dump that was the Devers trade.
– Dean Roussel
I admire Jordan Hicks for trying to bring pirate facial back. I do not admire him for his pitching ability.
— Dan Secatore
What do you feel better about going forward?
Jarren Duran. He hasn’t been as hot consistently as he was last season, but I think he’s due for a real hot streak. His inside-the-park-home-run was certainly a sign of positive offensive production.
— Juliet Hurwitz
I feel better about the production from the catchers going forward. Connor Wong has obviously been bafflingly bad this year, but he’s found a groove over the past two weeks that’s turned him into a genuinely above league average spot starter, which is relatively impressive no matter the person/position, but even more for Wong at catcher. Carlos Narvaez had an abysmal month (and a half) in July and August, but has similarly found his groove in recent weeks.
— Avery Hamel
The bullpen, weirdly. If the starting pitching holds up, mainly the top three, then this bullpen is going to be loaded come playoff time. Dustin May can throw two innings out of the pen. Payton Tolle can probably do the same. I absolutely love all-hands-on-deck baseball, and this team has some pieces to excel in that style.
— Jacob Roy
Brayan Bello. He really is looking like a real option not just down the stretch of this playoff run, but in future years. He’s really found a groove this year, and pitching to a 2.27 ERA in August and walking just six guys is no exception to that groove. Even when he runs into trouble, he’s got better than a puncher’s chance of getting out of it.
– Dean Roussel
The top end of the rotation which, if Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito can keep this going, will be as good as anyone else’s in October. If you can throw three pitchers in the postseason who can give you six-to-seven strong innings every time out, you can win the World Series.
— Dan Secatore
What do you feel worse about going forward?
Dustin May. He just does not stack up to what Bello, Giolito, and Crochet have accomplished this season, and Tolle already seems like a stronger pitcher to me. I really hope he’s not on the playoff roster (should there be one), but that may be inevitable depending on injuries/availability/etc.
— Juliet Hurwitz
Lucas Giolito. I wrote a few weeks ago about how Giolito’s box scores haven’t aligned with his production/performance on the mound. This still holds true, and although he’s been able to — mostly — get away with it since the All-Star break, these peripherals will eventually catch up to him, which will be especially dangerous come the nearly exclusively AL East slate come mid September.
— Avery Hamel
Next year? Is Trevor Story going to opt out? Lucas Giolito certainly will. Where does Alex Bregman end up? This team has the bones of a good one, but free agency could really shake things up.
— Jacob Roy
The back end of the rotation. Last season I thought the principal problem with the Red Sox roster was that, while they had plenty of acceptable starting pitching options, they didn’t have any high-end talent. Now, I love the top three arms in this group and… I don’t even know who the fourth and fifth pitchers are. That’s a recipe for burning a bullpen and struggling down the stretch. But hey: Dustin May in the original city connect uniforms (see above) might literally be the most colorful baseball player in history. So that’s nice.
— Dan Secatore
Are you going to change your preseason prediction?
I had the Sox in first place in the AL East, which is still possible but is unlikely at this point. So I’m changing it to making the wildcard, which seems more probable.
— Juliet Hurwitz
Although I didn’t have an official preseason prediction, my unofficial verdict before the season was that Boston would call up all of its top prospects (check), and make the Wild Card. While Kristian Campbell is struggling in Triple A and Marcelo Mayer got wrist surgery and disappeared off the face of the Earth, my Wild Card prediction still stands.
— Avery Hamel
I think they lose in the ALDS or Wild Card round, but yes, it seems pretty clear that, barring anything catastrophic, the Red Sox are going to finish with more than 86 wins this year. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but this team seems really special and is coming away from certain games with Ws when those same games played in May ended up as one run losses. The fact that so many of the difference-makers are inked into the team for years to come is huge, and hopefully guys like Alex Bregman and Trevor Story will feel the vibe and stick around, too. That all seems like a problem for the offseason, though.
– Dean Roussel
Hell no. The World Series remains on.
— Jacob Roy
