From Preschool To GPT: How ‘Experts’ Think 2025 Red Sox Will Fare

The Red Sox are going to be good again in 2025.

That’s what just about everyone believes at this point, at least.

Boston opens its 2025 season Thursday afternoon deep in the heart of Texas in what could be a preview of the American League Championship Series.

That might seem hard to believe or accept in New England after watching Boston sputter to uninspiring finishes over the last three seasons. That being said, the club more or less walked the walk this winter, parting with significant prospect capital to acquire an ace (Garrett Crochet) while also splashing the pot financially for free agent help (most notably Alex Bregman).

And wouldn’t you know it? Expectations are high once again. In fact, diving through the standard preseason previews and predictions for 2025, a clear theme developed: Just about everyone expects the Red Sox to range from good to elite this season.

First, the experts. Here’s a quick smattering of the smart baseball people on the internet and how they see the Red Sox season playing out.

ESPN.com
— Thirteen of the 28 panelists picked the Red Sox to win the American League East, and 10 others picked them to secure a wild card. That means 23 of 28 believe Boston will make the playoffs.

— Additionally, 10 of the 28 panelists picked the Red Sox to win the AL. One voter — Tim Keown — picked Boston to win the World Series.

“This could be a dynamic team cast against a mediocre AL landscape, making the Red Sox stand out.” — Buster Olney

THE ATHLETIC
— Of the 33 contributors for The Athletic, nine picked the Red Sox to win the AL pennant, and four of 33 predicted Boston would win the World Series (second-highest behind the Dodgers).
— The Athletic’s Keith Law predicted a 91-71 record to pace the AL before losing to the Braves in the World Series, while Eno Sarris made Boston’s return to the World Series one of his bold predictions.

” … the Sox have veterans, depth and high-end youth all over the diamond. Sounds like a good recipe for success.” — Eno Sarris

FANGRAPHS
— A whopping 24 of the 26 FanGraphs panelists picked the Red Sox to make the playoffs with 14 of those writers picking them to win the division.

— Going into the playoffs, nine of those writers picked the Red Sox to win the AL (the highest total), and three of them have the Red Sox winning the World Series.

THE BOSTON GLOBE
— Leave it to the local scribes to be most bearish. That said, three of the Globe’s six contributors picked the Sox to win the East, and all six have Boston in the playoffs.

Relying on human beings to make predictions is so 2024, though. AI is having its moment, so we’ve gotta get the robots to weigh in, right? So I posed a very basic command to ChatGPT: “Give me your predictions for the 2025 Boston Red Sox.”

What followed was a helpful if not entertaining exercise in trusting (or not trusting) AI. GPT spit out an 84-78 record. The relative dissent was appreciated, until I noticed GPT was optimistic Nick Pivetta could have a solid season, and “newcomer Vaughn Grissom” would improve the defense.

I had to set the robot straight.

From there, we made some progress.

This supposed real Red Sox 2025 preview called for an 88-74 record and a wild-card berth. Sounds good, right? One problem: GPT was really high on a Red Sox bullpen featuring … John Schreiber and Jason Foley. Neither of those gentlemen plays for the Red Sox, nor does GPT’s No. 3 starter Jordan Montgomery. Sheesh.

We did this dance a couple more times — I had to inform ChatGPT that Walker Buehler, Aroldis Chapman and Kristian Campbell all existed — and we finally got it squared away.

The final verdict? A 92-70 finish, good for the AL’s top wild-card spot … and maybe a deep playoff run.

After poring over the experts and letting our robot overlords weigh in, there was one more crystal ball into which I needed to peer.

As I put my 4-year-old to bed Wednesday night on the eve of the 2025 season, he noticed the baseball on my shirt and wanted to talk some ball. I informed him Opening Day was just a day away, the first day of a season that lasts 162 games over the next six months.

“The Red Sox will play 162 games. How many of those do you think they’ll win?” I asked him.

“Um … I think they’ll win some games,” he replied.

Safe assumption. Smart kid. I pressed a little more, though. Have a take, buddy.

“Um … 96 games?” he said.

Now, I should mention he doesn’t exactly know numbers beyond, say, 30, so even knowing 96 was an actual number was good enough for me — and maybe a sign?

The Red Sox have won exactly 96 games three times in their franchise history. The most recent was 2007 … when they won the World Series.

Out of the mouths of babes — you heard it here first.