{"id":182687,"date":"2025-09-26T09:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T09:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/182687\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T09:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T09:28:08","slug":"my-relationship-with-the-red-sox-its-complicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/182687\/","title":{"rendered":"My relationship with the Red Sox? It\u2019s complicated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Red Sox,<\/p>\n

Hi. Hey. It’s been a while, I know.<\/p>\n

You and I, we had some great times<\/a> together. I liked being a \u201cguy with a baseball team.\u201d I stuck with you for years, through Buckner<\/a> in \u201886, through Grady<\/a> in \u201803, supporting you all those times when maybe you didn’t deserve it. (Do we even need to bring up a certain 7-20 record in September 2011<\/a>? I didn\u2019t think so.)<\/p>\n

And it was worth it. In those moments when you took our relationship seriously, it paid off<\/a>. You hired the right<\/a> guys<\/a>, you learned how to win, and I loved you for it. 2004, 2007, 2013, not to mention 2018, we were peak relationship goals. I even thought you were the one.<\/p>\n

I thought we were in this together. I thought we were trying to make it work. Then, as if 2020 wasn\u2019t already bad enough, you went and traded Mookie Betts<\/a> \u2014 our best player in a generation \u2014 without even asking me how I felt about it.<\/p>\n

I was furious. I couldn\u2019t take it anymore. So I walked away.<\/p>\n

But Red Sox, so did you.<\/p>\n

\"CeddanneCeddanne Rafaela #3 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after making a diving catch during the second inning of a game against the New York Yankees on September 13, 2025 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra\/Boston Red Sox\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

We could have patched things up. Hell, even after I got rid of cable I was careful to subscribe to an online service that carried NESN<\/a>, in case we wanted to give it another try. I left the door open. I\u2019m not above a situationship. But you got greedy. You broke up with that service<\/a>, too. I didn’t understand why you kept pushing me away.<\/p>\n

That’s when we really lost contact. For the first time in my life, I was without a baseball team. My baseball team.<\/p>\n

Breakups stink, for everyone involved. When I lost NESN, I lost touch with the Bruins, too. It wasn’t their fault; I just hate it when friends have to pick sides<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a while, I didn\u2019t know who I was anymore without you.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t believe it was really over. Still, when I heard you kept repeating the same mistakes, like losing Xander Bogaerts<\/a> to the Padres, or sending Andrew Benintendi<\/a> (a lefty for crying out loud!) to Kansas City, I figured I got out just in time. This is textbook red flag behavior, and a man can only endure so much.<\/p>\n

But five years is a long time to go without a baseball team, and \u2026 I’ll admit it. I’ve been keeping tabs on you, despite my better judgment. I\u2019ve always had a weakness for Fenway in September. And when I heard you may even earn a wild card<\/a> and make the playoffs this year, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder: was I wrong to call things off?<\/p>\n

You look good, Red Sox. I\u2019m sorry if that makes things awkward between us, but it’s true. If I\u2019m being perfectly honest, it’s all I can do to not hit send on a “u up?” message at 2 a.m. Just for west coast games. Just to talk.<\/p>\n

What I mean to say is, I know I left you. And maybe that was rash. Maybe baseball teams really can change.<\/p>\n

But you have to admit, you haven’t made it easy. You say you want me back, but you don\u2019t act like it.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t help but laugh when you ditched Rafael Devers<\/a> in June, thinking “Wow, all these years, and they’re still the same jerk.” You’re hanging around with some characters with questionable<\/a> pasts<\/a>. And when I looked to see if maybe we could start things up again, just keep it casual, you tried to hit me up for $30 a month<\/a>. Thirty dollars! I get HBO for half as much! Do you have dragons playing third base, Red Sox?<\/p>\n

God, I’m getting mad all over again. Sorry, that’s not why I’m writing, I promise.<\/p>\n

I guess I just wanted to let you know that, even after everything, I still wish you well, and, really, I’ve been fine. I watch soccer now. I’m a Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> fan. Ask Liverpool from that little Fenway Sports Group<\/a> clique you hang with, they know the Spurs.<\/p>\n

My friends keep telling me it’s a rebound team, and they’re too much like you. They’re a big money club that’s cheap when signing players. They had an executive<\/a> that the fans blamed for some disappointing seasons, even though he did some pretty great things for the team. (Sorry to hear about Larry<\/a>, by the way. I always liked him, even if I not-so-secretly blamed him for Theo leaving.<\/a>) It was a team that, until recently, had a reputation<\/a> for getting close to victory and then …<\/p>\n

I dunno. Maybe I have a type.<\/p>\n

Anyway, good luck with your wild card<\/a> games, Red Sox. I\u2019m wishing you the best.<\/p>\n

Yours, kind of,<\/p>\n

Berto<\/p>\n

P.S. I haven\u2019t changed my number. Call me when you get your sh*t together.<\/p>\n

\"BostonBoston Red Sox’s Carlos Narvaez, front right, celebrates with teammates following his solo home run in the bottom of the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo\/Jim Davis)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Red Sox, Hi. Hey. It’s been a while, I know. You and I, we had some great…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-182687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}