Seeing Brad Marchand hoist the Cup and Rafael Devers traded are reminders of how Boston's sports fortunes have changed
Feels inevitable, doesn't it? The San Francisco Giants will win the World Series, and Devers will be their first baseman. It's the new curse in town. From the infamous and original Curse of the Bambino, the original dark cloud, to the Li'l Ball O' Hate, the most recent defector-turned-champion, Babe Ruth and Brad Marchand are reminders that sometimes, beloved figures end up writing a storybook ending somewhere else. From Ray Bourque to Tom Brady, Mookie Betts to Jon Lester, Adam Vinatieri to Ben Coates, Boston has more than done its part for other cities across the map, sending championship players to help them out.
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The Giants aren't the baseball favorites nor the defending champions the Panthers were, but they could emerge from the bruising NL West as a legitimate contender, especially with Devers's bat now in the lineup.
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Were that to happen, Devers would add a second title to his résumé, the same as Marchand. Both won early in their Boston careers —
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In Marchand's case, that came true, playing alongside captains Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron, in front of goaltenders Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask, scoring goals with David Pastrnak and David Krejci, making it all the way back to the Stanley Cup Final in
When the need for a franchise rebuild finally became too obvious to ignore, the Bruins accepted the reality that their current captain, the man who did his best to hold it all together, was more a part of their past than their future. And so
They did right by Marchand much as they once did by Bourque, whose loyalty to Boston across 21 Bruins seasons was so revered and valued that no one begrudged his trade to Colorado, where he won his only championship in 2001. So starved for success was Boston back then that Bourque's City Hall Plaza celebration with the Cup drew more than 20,000 fans, a particularly stunning occasion when looked through the prism of hindsight, and the ensuing six Patriots Super Bowl victories, two NBA Celtics titles, a Bruins Cup, and four Red Sox World Series.
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Ray Bourque bringing the Stanley Cup to Boston packed City Hall Plaza on June 13, 2001.
JIM BOURG/REUTERS
Yet amid all that curse-breaking celebration for the Sox is the troubling recent trend. Since that last title in 2018, payroll flexibility has taken over where big-market spending muscles used to be. Much like letting the beloved Lester walk only to watch him win another curse-breaking Series with the Cubs, the Sox keep shedding core players. The
Meanwhile, since trading him away, the Red Sox have more last-place finishes than playoff appearances.
The Patriots are coming off two last-place finishes of their own, languishing in the basement of an AFC East they used to dominate. Such is their post-Brady world, one that tries to restart again this season under the hands of Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye. Brady's résumé in New England will not be surpassed, but that pesky post-Patriots year in Tampa Bay, when he won
But for every Betts or Brady, there's a Coates, a 1991 fifth-round draft pick turned
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But times are lean again. Jayson Tatum is gone for the upcoming season after rupturing his Achilles' during a failed attempt to defend the 2024 NBA title, and the Celtics have to reshape their roster and finances. The Red Sox got zero major league help in return for Devers, other than unloading the $254 million balance of his contract. The Patriots are in Year 1 of Vrabel, and the Bruins in Year 1 of Marco Sturm.
All part of the sports cycle, a natural balancing of scales that, for two-plus decades, reached the highest of highs around here. Doesn't make it any easier to watch Marchand hoist the Cup, to watch Betts win the Series, or imagine Devers doing the same.
Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
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