Red Sox
“I feel like a kid out there — I get to do it with a lot of brothers that I love here. It’s exciting.”
A year ago, Trevor Story fought back tears as he fielded questions in the Red Sox clubhouse.
As his teammates braced themselves for another home opener at Fenway Park last April, Story found himself sitting in the dugout — his shredded left shoulder aided by a sling across his arm.
What the veteran once thought was going to be a clean slate in 2024 quickly turned into a mess, with the shortstop suffering a fracture of the glenoid rim in his left shoulder during the team’s season-opening road trip out west.
After missing the first four-plus months of the 2023 campaign due offseason elbow surgery, Story — who averaged just under 150 games a season from 2017-21 — found himself starting from square one once again.
“A lot of emotions,” Story said after Boston dropped its 2024 home opener to Baltimore. “Frustrated, you know. Just don’t really understand it. But I know that it’s a time for me to lean into my faith and I know that I’m where I’m supposed to be.
“But the plan, I think God’s plan sometimes, we don’t like it, or in the moment it doesn’t seem right at all. But I’ll continue to have that faith, and that’s what’s gonna get me through. Hard to make sense of it.”
Amid those injury-related trials brought upon over the last few seasons, the 32-year-old shortstop has learned to not take things for granted at this stage of his baseball career.
As such, he took every opportunity to embrace the opportunity afforded to him on Friday in his first Fenway opener for Boston since 2022.
Fair to say, Story made the most of it.
The slugging infielder set the tone right from the start for Boston — connecting on a three-run home run in the first inning en route to an eventual 13-9 win for the Red Sox over the Cardinals.
“Being a year removed from all that went on last year — I missed the home opener,” Story said postgame. “So it was a special day for me and my family here — especially because we got the win. They were able to see it. They were at the stands. So, yeah, it was a good day.”
Story played a key role in Boston’s five-run salvo in the first inning against St. Louis — standing as the first five-run opening frame by the Red Sox in a home opener since April 13, 1984.
After Alex Bregman opened the scoring for Boston with an RBI double to left, Story gave his team a four-run cushion — taking a belt-high sweeper from Cardinals starter Erick Fedde and nearly launching the offering out of the ballpark and onto Landsdowne Street.
“Just being able to be a part of that big first inning — it’s fun,” Story said. “Fenway was electric. Everybody was on their feet — it felt like it the whole game. The crowd never stopped. It’s a big advantage for us, and we love the support and that’s a big part of being a Red Sox.”
After a quiet start to the 2025 season, Story — who went 2-for-5 in the win — has now clubbed two home runs and collected five hits over his last three games after opening the year in a 2-for-15 skid.
After scoring just 19 total runs over their first six games this season, Boston’s big guns in the heart of its order seem to be settling into a groove.
The Red Sox have now scored 21 runs over the last two games — with Friday’s output standing as the team’s most runs generated in a game since July 29 against the Mariners (14 runs).
“Baseball is a crazy game, and there’s lots of ups and downs, ebbs and flows to it,” Story said of Boston’s offense bouncing back. “And I think over the course of 162-plus [games], you’ll see the type of team at-bats and the type of offense that we are.
“You can’t judge that off three games, you know. So we know it’s going to ebb and flow. We know that if we keep doing the right things in our preparation and taking good at-bats, walking, making the pitchers work and then making them pay, I think we will be in a good spot.”
Story has a ways to go to remove the doubt over durability with the Red Sox — as well as his ability to return to form as the power-hitting, smooth-fielding shortstop that Boston envisioned he’d be when they signed him to a six-year, $140 million contract in 2022.
But with these recent injury hurdles behind them, Story feels as though he can just focus on his game — and make an impact on a Boston team that has started to produce results after a quiet start.
“It feels fun. It feels — just like we’re competing, not worrying about injuries or how my body’s gonna feel, whatever it may be,” Story said. “It’s just about playing. That’s the way it should be. I feel like a kid out there — I get to do it with a lot of brothers that I love here. It’s exciting.”
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