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All Red Sox Nation eyes will be on Oracle Park this weekend, not to celebrate but to mourn.
This is nothing new for Boston fans who already had agonized over other popular superstars who got away, Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts.
Rafael Devers now makes it a trifecta, and the National League West is grateful.
As fate would have it, Devers’ fourth game with the Giants will be his first against the Red Sox, with whom he spent his first 1,053 big-league games and won a 2018 World Series ring.
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The Giants beat Cleveland 2-1 in Thursday’s series finale, courtesy of Wilmer Flores’ pinch two-run double in the seventh inning, providing some momentum leading to the three-game series against Boston that starts Friday night.
“It’s going to be huge for both fan bases,” said Giants first baseman Dom Smith, who was Devers’ teammate with the Red Sox last season. “I do know how much that fan base cherishes him, and what he did for that fan base, bringing a World Series back, being one of the homegrown players who was a perennial All-Star and did a lot of great things for the city, I’m sure that they are sad he’s gone.
“I know he has an extreme amount of love for that city, but I know he loves being here, and I know he wants to win a World Series here. To win a World Series, we’ve got to beat everyone who comes in our way.”
Devers singled in his final at-bat Thursday and is 3-for-11 with two walks and four strikeouts as a Giant. That he’s facing his old team just days after the 4-for-1 trade that ticked off Red Sox fans will heighten the theater in an ongoing story that already has plenty of drama.
Right fielder Mike Yastrzemski sees the timing as a blessing in disguise for his new teammate.
“I would think it’s probably less emotional being so quick, because you’re still in the heat of finding your new settings, your new surroundings. There’s so much going on,” Yastrzemski said. “You’re moving across the country. You’ve got your whole life flipped upside down. He doesn’t have much time to think about the last seven, eight years.
“I think it’ll be more of an emotional thing when he goes back to Fenway when his life isn’t changing so much in the moment.”
Yastrzemski is well-versed in New England sports, the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, a Red Sox legend, and understands the weight Devers is feeling leaving the only organization he has known and becoming an instant mainstay on a team with playoff aspirations.
“He asked me what are the best places to hit the ball in terms of our ballpark,” Yastrzemski said. “I said for me, it’s right down the right-field line or to left field during day games; for you, wherever you want.”
Devers has been open to any wishes from Buster Posey and Bob Melvin, which is why he has been taking ground balls at first base and is expected to eventually play there despite never appearing at the position in his pro career. It’s a far cry from his Boston days when he pooh-poohed the team’s request to move to first base.
That’s because Devers lost his job at third base when the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman in the offseason. Devers was turned into a designated hitter, which he wasn’t thrilled about, and then got pushed to move to first after Triston Casas sustained a season-ending injury.
It became a broken marriage, and the Red Sox felt obligated to trade Devers after already dealing Betts to the Dodgers and watching Bogaerts sign as a free agent with the Padres. Red Sox fans are tired of watching superstar after superstar head for the exits and are quick to blame the team’s front office and ownership for bungling relations with their top players.
Even Red Sox icon Pedro Martinez, who’s on the payroll as a special assistant, went as far as saying, “The thing got mishandled from the get-go” while calling out manager Alex Cora, president of baseball operations Craig Breslow, and CEO Sam Kennedy.
By far, more blame has been thrust on the Red Sox than Devers. Including by the fans.
“Everybody in that (Red Sox) clubhouse loves him, loves the type of baller he was,” Smith said. “He plays through injuries that people don’t even know about and has a ton of respect from his peers. Coming here, he wants to show the fanbase he’s part of this culture and do whatever it takes to win.”
Giants fans have welcomed Devers with repeated standing ovations approaching his at-bats, and there’s no doubt he’ll receive a hero’s welcome when the Giants play in Boston next season. For now, it’s about getting back on a winning track in the wake of the four-game losing streak that was snapped Thursday.
“When each team comes in, they have his name circled and say, ‘Don’t let him beat us,’” said Smith, and that goes for the Red Sox.
Yastrzemski added, “There’s certain guys that are role players. There’s certain guys that are All-Stars. And then there’s certain guys that are impact players. That’s an impact player. His bat is that special.”
The Giants’ offense, a sore point most of the season, hasn’t exactly clicked since Devers’ arrival: eight runs in three games, 2-for-26 with runners in scoring position, including 1-for-7 Thursday. The “1” was Flores’ double, which made Logan Webb (nine strikeouts, zero walks in seven innings) a winner.
While Devers’ new teammates quickly embraced him, it’s clear they need to step up throughout the lineup and perform much better.
“This guy’s not our holy savior, right?” Yastrzemski said. “We’ve played a really good brand of baseball up to this point, and he wasn’t in our lineup, so I don’t ever want to put that on him in terms of pressure or stress where the rest of the lineup is thinking they can just rely on one guy to get the job done. It’s still a team sport.”