Sox can hide behind B’s, C’s and flailing Pats

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA >> Jacoby Brissett is the best thing to happen to the Red Sox since the 2018 World Series.

The antipathy triggered by the “full throttle” Red Sox offseason being stuck in neutral has abated.

Red Sox fans have embraced the final stage of baseball grief: apathy.

Resentment and rage commuted to Foxboro this winter.

The Patriots are on the road to match the Red Sox’ current run of futility. The teams that dominated their respective sports for the first score of this century have combined for three last-place finishes in the past two years.

Robert Kraft has picked up a page from the John Henry playbook. He’s more focused with his sanitized version of history in “The Dynasty” and trashing his former coach. And far less concerned with spending money on talented players.

Or finding a quarterback with a higher career QB rating than Mac Jones. Brissett does not.

The Patriots’ real-time demise has given the Red Sox emotional cover of what appears to be another “Bridge To Nowhere” year. The Red

Sox fell off your digital screens and airwaves once the Patriots fired Bill Belichick and opted to run it back — to the Dick Macpherson era.

The Bruins and Celtics soon return to the postseason. They will subsequently inhale all the oxygen in the room until that soul-crushing Game 7 loss at home.

This means the Red Sox can accomplish whatever it is they do in relative anonymity.

Four last place finishes in five years?

Yawn.

Alex Cora destroys the pitching staff?

He was leaving the Red Sox, anyway.

Shock the world and finish in fourth?

If no one is watching at Fenway Park or on NESN, did it really happen?

There were healthy crowds at Jetblue Park at times during spring training, never-before available empty seats were scattered throughout Fenway South.

The spring crowds appeared more interested in absorbing the sun’s rays, catching up on family gossip, and posting on Instagram, than with the men on the field in Red Sox uniforms purporting to be major-league ballplayers.

These Red Sox could hold a meet-and-greet at the local Hooters and finish a distant fourth behind wings, breasts, and beer.

NBC 10 Boston the other day asked several fans outside America’s Favorite Ballpark for their thoughts on the upcoming Red Sox season, and to name any players on the 2024 team.

One fan said she had “no idea” the Red Sox were starting their season this week. Another “thought it was like a summer thing.” A couple of fans said they could not name a single player.

One die-hard gave a name: “Devers.”

Meet Raffy Devers and the Men of Mystery.

Since the Red Sox are now an afterthought on the Fenway Sports Group spreadsheet, it should not surprise anyone that they are also an afterthought on the streets around Fenway

Park.

Henry has four World Series rings and an SUV (all-electric, of course) full of soccer trophies. The Billionaire and The Baroness have now shifted their focus to the PGA Tour and a golf partnership with the Saudis.

The Red Sox are just another club in FSG’S bag.

Opening Day seats were once the prized possession of scalpers. They formed the core of family legacies. Divorce decrees included who got the ducats and when. Gifting them for Christmas ensured a perfect holiday. At least until Uncle Bob hit the bottle.

Opening Day at Fenway Park was also the best excuse to skip school this side of COVID-19. It was the only time I ever got a pass from my parents not to spend the day absorbing the wisdom offered in the Arlington Public School system without carrying some sort of life-threatening illness.

Now, Opening Day at Fenway Park is just another Tuesday.

April 9, to be exact. Several hundred Opening Day seats were being offered at face value via the official Red Sox website as of this writing. Locations were available throughout the bleachers, in every grandstand section but 19, 20, 21 and 22, on the Green Monster, in the upper level, and throughout the mid-level boxes surrounding both sides of the outfield.

Pick a spot. It’s available.

Tickets on the secondary market are moving like the Red Line during a blizzard. Bleacher seats for the April 10 game against the AL East champion Baltimore Orioles are fetching a whopping $14 plus fees on vividseats.

The 2023 Red Sox won 78 games, finishing 23 games out of first place. Their win total moved from 76.5 to 78.5 during the season. We won on the over of 76.5. Draftkings has the Red Sox at 77.5 wins this year. That number has moved down from 80.5. We took the under on 80.5 a few weeks ago.

Spring training can be the fool’s gold of baseball. But the 2024 Red Sox have shown a noticeable increase in their ability to execute the basics of fielding. Last year, the Red

Sox used 12 players at second and 11 at shortstop. Getting those numbers in the low single digits (that means Trevor Story and Vaughn Grissom staying/ getting healthy) could be worth a couple of wins on its own.

Faith in the team’s starting rotation and likely-to-be-decimated-by-theall-star-break bullpen is a bit less devout.

The Red Sox begin their season-long celebration of the 2004 team on Opening Day. The team will honor the lives of the late Tim and Stacy Wakefield. Nobody does it better. Tears will flow like the Charles River.

The Red Sox collapse from their MLB pantheon rivals that of ancient Rome, the Soviet Union, or Bill Belichick.

And in a relief for all involved, there will be nein innings for Curt Schilling on Opening Day. The Big Schill declined to attend, avoiding the possibility of a Fenway furor.

Then again, the Red

Sox could have used the buzz.

Even if it’s caused by someone kicking a hornet’s nest.

Bill Speros (@REALOBF and @Billsperos on X) can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com.