Rafael Devers is making it awfully easy for Red Sox fans to daydream.
Boston has moved on just fine in the post-Devers stretch, reaching the playoffs last season after dealing away its biggest power bat and then shaking off an ugly start in 2026 to settle in as one of the top playoff teams after an historic winning run. But Devers’ recent surge with the San Francisco Giants has reopened the old question in the loudest possible way: what would this lineup look like with him still in it?
The answer, at least on paper, is pretty obvious. Devers has finally snapped out of his early-season struggles and turned into one of the hottest hitters in baseball.
Over his last 15 games, he’s hit .421/.522/.982 with nine home runs and 22 RBI, while also drawing 11 walks. That’s the kind of run that puts a player right back in the middle of the league-wide conversation.
His season numbers now sit at .260/.342/.522 across 145 games. He’s up to 35 home runs, which ranks eighth in the league, and his 92 RBI also place him eighth. He’s piled up 36 doubles, enough to move past Wilyer Abreu and two other hitters for the major league lead.
The Giants highlighted just how loud the streak has been, posting that Devers “went crazy last week,” when he hit .385 (10-for-26) with six homers, 13 RBI, two doubles, seven walks, eight runs, a 1.154 slugging percentage and a .515 on-base percentage 🤯
Boston’s own power numbers have come in stronger than some expected. ZiPS projected that no Red Sox hitter would reach 20 home runs this season, but Willson Contreras, Abreu and Jarren Duran have all gotten there, with Contreras and Abreu setting career highs in the process. Even so, Devers still has nine more homers than Contreras, who leads Boston this season.
That gap is what makes the thought exercise so tempting. Before the All-Star break, the Red Sox had hit just 85 home runs, the fewest in the majors.
Since then, they’ve launched 66, the third-most in the league. The power has arrived, just later than Boston probably wanted.
And if Devers had been around for the slow start? It’s not hard to picture a few more wins early in the year, especially during those stretches when Boston couldn’t seem to come back from a two-run deficit. Three more victories would have put the Sox ahead of the New York Yankees in the Wild Card standings and handed them home field in the Wild Card round, assuming they held onto that edge.
Still, the relationship between Devers and Boston’s front office was clearly beyond repair, and that chapter is closed. There isn’t a reunion coming. Devers looks set to be a Giant for the long haul, especially with a contract that may be impossible to move again.
But the what-ifs aren’t going anywhere. As long as Devers keeps raking, Red Sox fans are going to keep imagining a version of this season with him in the middle of the order, crushing balls as Boston’s home run leader.
In Other News...
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Jarren Duran Buzz Raises A Bigger Red Sox Question Already
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MLB.com's Mark Feinsand has floated the idea that Duran could emerge as a trade candidate once the season ends, a possibility tied to both his diminished trade value and Boston's outfield depth. The larger question for the Red Sox is whether they decide to use that surplus to help solve other issues, especially on the pitching side, even though nothing has been confirmed and the front office still has more immediate matters in front of it. [Read more 🡒]