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The Boston Red Sox suffered a series sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday and fans might feel the season skid is all too familiar.
The team opted to trade away their highest-paid player in a stunning move earlier this month, just after he had powered a sweep of the rival New York Yankees. The front office defended the move as one that would help promote the type of clubhouse culture it believes is central to a winning organization, but observers could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
Initially, the decision seemed a lot like the Red Sox trade of superstar Mookie Betts in 2020, which sent their best player to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Or even the 1919 trade that sent Babe Ruth to the Yankees, sparking the “curse of the Bambino” and nearly 100 years of championship futility.
In the midst of the latest skid for the Red Sox, Major League Baseball insider Hector Gomez floated the notion of a new curse on the franchise.
“Has the Devers curse fallen on the Red Sox?” Gomez asked, noting a 3-7 record, five-game losing streak and .182 batting average for top prospect Marcelo Mayer since the move.
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Obviously, the sample size of results since the team moved on from Devers is small. And chief baseball officer Craig Breslow suggested he would be improving the roster in the near future.
“This is in no way signifying a waving of the white flag on 2025,” Breslow said in a media session after the trade, per ESPN. “I do think that there is a real chance that at the end of the season we’re looking back and we’ve won more games than we otherwise would’ve.”
But for a franchise that has had its fair share of losing seasons, skepticism will persist until the record books show Breslow has avoided another curse.
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Peter Chawaga is a veteran journalist covering Major League Baseball for The Sporting News. His MLB reporting has included feature interviews with commissioner Rob Manfred and Hall of Fame slugger David Ortiz, salary analysis, player rankings and more. He has covered baseball for Forbes, Yardbarker, Pitcher List, Athlon and other outlets.
With over ten years of newsroom experience, he has previously covered finance, technology, arts, and culture for newspapers, magazines, and websites nationwide. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in English and journalism.
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