Let's face it: The summer of 2020 was awful, as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the world and threw a wrench into everyone's plans.
And while the resumption of sports was nice, given that it represented a sense of normalcy amid an otherwise difficult time, Red Sox fans never really had much to be excited about. Boston stumbled to a last-place finish in the American League East during Major League Baseball's condensed season.
Now, flash forward to 2021: The Red Sox look like a team ready to make up for lost time.
Sure, the Red Sox just dropped two of three to the Tampa Bay Rays, including a crushing 1-0 loss Thursday night at Tropicana Field that bumped Boston out of first place in the division. But Alex Cora's positive summation after both the defeat and the series should be music to Red Sox fans' ears.
"We're really good," the manager told reporters during his postgame video conference Thursday. "It's going to be a fun summer in Boston."
Certainly should be.
The Red Sox, who enter their three-game weekend series against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park with a 44-31 record, have exceeded expectations to this point. And honestly, it's impossible to predict whether they'll sustain their current place and reach the MLB postseason.
But the Red Sox, at the very least, are an entertaining team that should remain competitive throughout the season, which is something that couldn't be said for last year's club. That alone should have Red Sox fans fired up about the next three-plus months.
"All depends how you see it. I thought it was a great baseball game," Cora said after Thursday's loss, which ended on a walk-off wild pitch from Matt Barnes. "We ended up losing 1-0. We did a lot of good things. We did a lot of bad things. At the end, they got a good lead at third (base), the ball gets away from (catcher) Christian (Vázquez) and they win the game.
"But I've got to be honest with you, a lot of people, they didn't believe in this team before the season. I think the way we played against these guys tonight shows how good we are. And we have a lot of work to do. We know that. But we belong in the conversation."
Conversation for the World Series? Maybe. Maybe not.
Conversation for the division title? Absolutely. Especially with a stud prospect like Jarren Duran waiting in the wings at Triple-A Worcester and Chris Sale's return from Tommy John surgery on the horizon.
"We've got work to do, obviously. We've got to keep getting better defensively, we've got to put up good at-bats, we've got to pitch better," Cora said. "I think all-around we're a good baseball team. I've been saying it since spring training. Just because you lost two out of three against these guys, it doesn't mean that we're going the other way. We are where we are in the standings. We know that. We've put ourselves in this conversation, and now we've just got to keep playing consistently."
The world is bouncing back. And so are the Red Sox.
