The Boston Red Sox will be kicking off their 2023 campaign next Thursday on March 30th, but it doesn't seem like many folks care. In fairness, the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins are on absolute fire, and the New England Patriots are in the middle of beefing up their roster this offseason. As for the Red Sox, well, expectations aren't exactly high for them in 2023.

After a lifeless offseason in which the front office's only move that seemed to indicate a desire to win was the long-term extension for Rafael Devers, Boston seems set for a disappointing 2023 campaign. Not only is their roster devoid of star talent after losing players like Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, and Nathan Eovaldi in free agency, but they play in maybe the most competitive division in the MLB in the American League East.

It makes sense as to why it's so tough to get invested in the Red Sox right now, but maybe there are reasons for optimism that we are ignoring. Boston had a handful of players participate in the World Baseball Classic, and for the most part, the players that took part in the tournament shined for the Sox. Could this be a sign that the Sox may actually be better than expected in 2023?

The Red Sox representatives at the World Baseball Classic stood out

Even if you didn't pay full attention to the World Baseball Classic, it was tough to completely miss the damage that Boston's players were doing in the tournament. Whether it was big name stars or players competing for a spot in the majors, it seemed like someone of the Red Sox was making a vital contribution in every game played.

For the most part, everyone that Boston had performing in the tournament was a position player. The only two pitchers of theirs to actually take the hill for the nations they represented were Richard Bleier for Israel and Rio Gomez for Colombia. Bleier picked up a win while pitching a clean 2.2 innings, while Gomez only allowed one walk in his 1.1 innings pitched, so both were solid in their limited action.

At the plate, though, some of the hottest players in the entire event were Red Sox players. We should probably start with the standout player of the WBC for Boston in Masataka Yoshida. The Sox signed Yoshida from Japan this offseason for a fairly expensive five-year, $90 million contract that has been panned for much of the offseason.

Yet Yoshida looked pretty great while leading Japan to the championship over Team USA. Yoshida was a madman for Japan in their seven games (.409 BA, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 1.258 OPS), and had one of the highlights of the tournament when he hit a game-tying three-run home run in Japan's semi-final contest against Mexico. The World Baseball Classic isn't necessarily equivalent to the MLB, but Yoshida certainly silenced some of his critics with a strong performance for Japan.

Surprisingly enough, Boston's second best player in the tournament was Yu Chang, who likely won't even start the season in the majors for the Sox. Playing for Chinese Taipei, Chang was a force in his four games (.438 BA, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 1.438 OPS) and certainly caught some attention in Boston. With question marks at first base, Chang remains an intriguing option moving forward.

Another extremely encouraging performance came courtesy of Enrique Hernandez with Puerto Rico. Hernandez's numbers aren't as dominant as Yoshida's or Chang's (.300 BA, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .791 OPS) but after a down year in 2022, it was great to see Hernandez look more like the 2021 version of himself that completely took over the playoffs for the Sox.

Ironically, Boston's top two players in the tournament in Rafael Devers and Alex Verdugo were the quietest of the bunch. Devers hit just .125 in four games, and while Verdugo wasn't much better, hitting just .130 for Mexico, his hits always seemed to be timely, as he drove in four runs along the way. Despite their poor play, there's not really any reason to be concerned about either of these guys heading into the regular season.

You certainly can't overanalyze the results or statistics from the World Baseball Classic, but it was a change of pace to see folks on the Sox playing so well in the tournament. Could this translate to the 2023 regular season? Who knows, but the early negative narratives surrounding this team simply may not be true.

This isn't to say that the Red Sox are going to go out and win their division, but it's not totally out of the picture to suggest they could be a Wild Card team. There would certainly be a lot that would have to go their way, but as we just saw at the World Baseball Classic, there are some talented players on Boston's roster. With some early doubts having been cast aside, it's safe to say that there's a bit more reason for optimism surrounding the 2023 Red Sox squad.