When the Boston Red Sox front office shocked the baseball world back in June by trading superstar slugger Rafael Devers, things looked anything but rosy.
Alex Bregman had been on the injured list for around two weeks, and Boston opted not to ask Devers to head back out to the field again for the second time in 2025 — this time at his usual third base. Instead, the team called up Marcelo Mayer, shifted Devers across the country, and dug in for what could have delivered an extended bout of pain.
After the trade, momentum decidedly shifted back in Boston’s favor, and San Francisco, a team that looked extremely menacing in an NL division home to plenty of menace (and the Rockies), crashed and burned before the postseason.