Don’t deal; the Red Sox have signed a key player compared to…
Every baseball season is a new experience.
A team’s season is unpredictable until it ends, regardless of past performance or lack thereof, regardless of offseason acquisitions made or not.
Thus, it’s intriguing that the Red Sox have chosen to go into a different kind of unknown territory by agreeing to be the subject of a season-long docuseries with Netflix, in addition to starting a new season full of the usual unknowns.
There’s a second Red Sox series on Netflix that centers on the 2004 season, but we all know how that one ends. Nevertheless, it will be intriguing to watch if they can add a fresh perspective to a momentous year that has already been extensively documented.
This week, Red Sox chief marketing officer Adam Grossman told the Herald, “It’s sort of how these two parallel processes came about.” It’s amazing that baseball, the Red Sox, and our players will be on this platform for a truly global audience for both the past and the present. I think Netflix felt like it was a good sort of one-two punch.
The project has been in development for about three years. Though it started as a more theoretical discussion about how to best package Major League Baseball for television, early participants included members of the Red Sox leadership.
According to Grossman, “Netflix and MLB were the entry points.” “John Henry, the commissioner, Tom Werner, and Netflix had begun talking about how important it was for baseball to be on a platform like Netflix, with some of the docuseries that had been going on.”
The documentary series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” which is going into its sixth season on Netflix, has been incredibly successful. With 30 teams, MLB could continue until 2055 with one season per team. However, during the first conversations with Netflix, a number of possible approaches were discussed, such as working with multiple teams or concentrating on particular players.
“The best way to do this, to really demonstrate the experience and the texture of what a baseball season is, should be to focus on a team,” Grossman said they ultimately concluded. While he acknowledged that Netflix might have had conversations with other teams, he insisted that the Red Sox were the team that showed the greatest desire to proceed. He remarked, “As we learned more, we really put up our hands to try to, you know, say, we’d love to be the first.”
Naturally, baseball will be a major theme, but not the only one, according to Grossman. “There is a great deal of opportunity, a great deal of human interest, struggle, and triumph.”
There will also be echoes of “The Last Dance,” as the F1 model does not exactly translate to a 162-game team sport. Upon its release in the spring of 2020, Netflix’s 10-episode co-production with ESPN, which tells the story of Michael Jordan and the 1998 Chicago Bulls, became an instant hit and currently has a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Bulls of the 1990s were undoubtedly a dynasty. They accomplished not one but two three-peats to win six rings between 1991 and 1998, with Jordan leading the way. This truly turned the NBA into a worldwide sensation. The film crew was granted unprecedented access, and it’s incredible to watch hours of personal, behind-the-scenes footage of a team trying to salvage one last moment of glory and make the most of their final season together. The majority of the footage has never been seen before.
The Red Sox, who have won more MLB championships this century than any other team, decided it was time for a major rebuild after winning four of them between 2004 and 2018. Boston has finished last three times in a row since trading generational talent Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers in February 2020, and they have virtually completely shunned extravagant spending.
According to Grossman, all employees, including players, comprehend the significance of expanding baseball’s popularity and reaching a diverse and worldwide audience.
This includes all levels of the organization, including ownership. We believe this will appeal even to our core followers. It’s also possible that someone in the Philippines who has only vaguely heard of baseball may also be able to access this, so it’s kind of a fresh introduction that offers something for everyone, regardless of level of fandom.
Thus, Grossman said, “That was really, really intriguing from an appeal standpoint for us.” “I think that also plays into having the Red Sox’s history, tradition, and fan passion, as well as the fact that Fenway Park is sort of a landmark and has its own cathedral.”
He went on, “And that we are willing to do these things.”
It’s interesting to consider why the Red Sox are agreeing to do this right now, though. The team recently finished in last place twice, and there are few signs that this year’s roster will perform any better. Under the current ownership, they had their lowest home attendance in ’22 and only just surpassed it the following year.
Fans’ approval of them is declining daily, in part due to the lack of star power on the roster and the front office’s inaction in trying to address it. Although Rafael Devers is the highest-paid player in the history of the team, David Ortiz characterizes the third baseman as being “shy.” Furthermore, since the Betts trade, Henry has not made himself accessible to the media. Is he going to do that for Netflix?
With the exception of an incredible worst-to-first situation, which the Red Sox have accomplished in the past, Netflix’s editing staff will have a difficult time trying to present them in a positive light.
