Red Sox getting their ‘teeth kicked in’ will be a positive 

For the fifth time in the last six years, the Red Sox will be on the outside looking in during the postseason.

Boston’s slim odds of punching a ticket to October baseball were finally snuffed out Wednesday with the Red Sox’ 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays, a crushing end to a second-half slide where Boston went 27-37 after the All-Star Break.

But speaking after Boston’s loss to Toronto, Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas tried to draw the silver lining out yet another frustrating summer. 

“It was good this year to get our teeth kicked in a little bit,” Casas told reporters, as transcribed by NESN.com’s Greg Dudek. “There was high points and low ones. Seemed like the same story as last year where we were pretty streaky. … Overall, we got to find a way to weather those storms a little bit more, keep those hot streaks going. That’s what good teams do and we weren’t able to that as many times as the other ones this year.

“We do have a young group. A lot of faces looking around the clubhouse will be here next year, so we’re going to continue to collaborate and keep getting better as a group and it’s going to take one individual at a time getting better and the product is going to be on the field, for sure.”

In some respects, the Red Sox made strides this summer in terms of developing the next wave of talent. While rookies like Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu impressed in their first full season, prospects like Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer, and Kyle Teel continued to raise their stock. 

Still, those positive long-term gains will do little to alleviate the pain of Boston falling short of the playoffs for the third straight year. 

“It’s very disappointing,” Casas said. “We had high hopes going into the season. We were optimistic about our chances  of making the playoffs. … Overall, as a group, I think we’re all pretty disappointed in the end result of the season.”

Changes could be on the horizon for Boston, especially with Craig Breslow noting that Boston will explore trades in order to address weaknesses on the roster. 

Boston could be poised to take another step forward in 2025, but that optimism doesn’t exactly resonate in a clubhouse that failed to deliver in 2024. 

“We’re all competitors in this room and at the end of the day, what I love most about this group is when we look at ourselves in the mirror, we assume the responsibility as if it was our own fault for losing this season,” Casas said. “We all take responsibility for the product on the field and we all know we have to be better next year and going into the offseason.”