Red Sox fans chant “sell the team.” How did they get there?
Why fans are so frustrated despite the Red Sox's recent success
I was in attendance for Monday’s game between the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers at Fenway Park as a spectator. Sitting in the right field bleachers by the visiting team’s bullpen amongst the die-hard fans, it was impossible to ignore the constant “sell the team” chants happening throughout the 8-6 loss.
Here is a quick video I took of one of the many “sell the team” chants:
Monday was not the only time that happened. Red Sox fans had been chanting “sell the team” throughout the first homestand. The Red Sox have faltered coming out of the gate and at the time, were on their way to an MLB-worst 2-8 start to the season.
This difficult start comes after an especially tumultuous two-year stretch under Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow highlighted by trading Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants last June and failing to re-sign Alex Bregman, who signed a five-year, $175 contract with the Chicago Cubs this past offseason instead of returning to Boston.
Despite the recent uncertainty, the current Red Sox ownership has been one of the most successful in modern sports history. Since Fenway Sports Group, led by Principal Owner John Henry, Chairman Michael Werner and President and CEO Sam Kennedy, purchased the Red Sox in 2001, they have led the team to four championships (2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018), the most out of any team this century.
So why are Red Sox fans so upset? There has been a clear investment in the team that many fanbases would be envious of. According to FanGraphs’ roster resource payroll breakdown, the Red Sox have the sixth-highest luxury tax projection. After missing out on Bregman this offseason, Boston quickly pivoted and signed Ranger Suarez to a five-year, $130 million contract, showing that they were willing to invest long-term in their current roster.
Henry and Fenway Sports Group have an image problem.
Most of the fan unrest began following the 2019 season when the Red Sox traded superstar Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers one year before he would hit free agency after not being able to agree on an extension. Since Betts was traded, the Dodgers have won three World Series. The Red Sox have made it to the postseason just twice. In that same time frame, the Red Sox also let fan-favorite Xander Bogaerts walk in free agency.
After the Red Sox traded Devers last season, no players were left on the team from the 2018 championship.
The last time that Henry held a press conference and took questions from the media was in 2020 after the Red Sox traded Betts. Since that press conference, he has only done two interviews. In March, Henry tweeted for the first time since 2021 to poke fun at controversial Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy. That type of inaccessibility only exacerbates fans’ frustrations and gives them a reason to believe that ownership is avoiding being asked potentially difficult questions.
Fenway Sports Group has also expanded their portfolio to other professional sports teams, giving Boston fans the impression that the Red Sox are no longer their priority and other money being spent on those ventures is coming at the expense of potential investment in the Red Sox.
In 2010, Fenway Sports Group purchased English football team Liverpool F.C. and turned them into one of the most successful clubs in all of Europe. Liverpool won the Premier League in 2019-20 and 2024-25 and the Champions League in 2018-19 and features some of the biggest names in the sport. In the last year, Liverpool paid transfer fees of €145 million and €125 million for Aleksander Isak and Florian Wirtz. Fenway Sports Group has also had ownership stakes in the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, NASCAR team Roush Fenway Racing and Boston Common Golf in the new TGL.
Red Sox players have noticed their fans’ frustrations with ownership.
“It’s weird because regardless of how you feel about the ownership group, the chants always come with you guys make an error, you guys walk a run in, you guys strike out with the bases loaded. They are (expletive) on us, but not saying it. It’s weird,” Garrett Crochet said to WEEI’s Rob Bradford after Tuesday’s 3-2 win over the Brewers. “It’s just passion, at the end of the day. We know when we’re doing bad. … I think it’s fair to want more and want us to get the job done and just play clean baseball. I don’t think that’s asking a lot of us to play clean baseball.”
The Red Sox have been playing a bit better since the “sell the team” chants started, taking the last two against the Brewers to win their first series of the new 2026 season. But there are still clear flaws. Caleb Durbin, who the Red Sox traded for as a cost-effective option with years of team control to replace Bregman at third base, is struggling mightily at the plate and in the field, hitting just .111 and recording two errors. Suarez, the team’s biggest offseason addition, has given up eight runs over 8 ⅓ innings in his first two starts.
If the Red Sox keep struggling throughout the season, “sell the team” chants will continue to ring throughout Fenway Park. Big-market teams are not supposed to lose their best players at the rate the Red Sox have lost theirs and fans are losing patience.