Jonathan Papelbon: Red Sox Culture Still Built to Win, Bryce Harper Needs a Ring, and Cal Raleigh Deserves MVP

Ben Mendelowitz Sports Betting Expert

10 minute read

WHAT TO KNOW:

• Jonathan Papelbon credits Boston’s 2025 playoff push to a pitching resurgence: Garrett Crochet as the stopper, Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello emerging, and Aroldis Chapman cutting his walk rate in half.
  
• He believes rookie Connelly Early can have a long career if he stays healthy and adapts quickly, while the loss of Roman Anthony is a major blow to the lineup.
  
• Papelbon stresses the bullpen has been “damn near all of it” for Boston, especially early in the season.
  
• On the Phillies, he says Kyle Schwarber’s Home Run chase has the clubhouse behind him, Turner and Bohm’s injuries are tough to overcome, and Bryce Harper needs a ring to cement his legacy.
  
• Papelbon calls the Phillies “Karen” fan incident “cray cray,” says Cal Raleigh deserves MVP over Judge and Ohtani because of his impact as a catcher.
  

_{Featured Image Credit: Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Staff}

The Boston Red Sox are chasing their first playoff berth since 2021, and few players know more about the team’s culture than Jonathan Papelbon, who helped deliver a World Series in 2007. The former closer sat down with us to discuss Boston’s identity, the role of pitching and the bullpen, and also shared his thoughts on the Phillies, Bryce Harper, and why Cal Raleigh should be this year’s MVP.

(This Q&A has been edited only for clarity — all answers are included in full.)

You played your prime years with the Red Sox — what was the culture in Boston during those seasons, and how does it compare to what you’re seeing with the 2025 Red Sox squad?

Papelbon: The culture of the Red Sox all started the year that I was drafted with Pedro Martinez.

When he signed over there, won the Cy Young Award, and the way he played…just every type of fan started to show up to Fenway Park from Dominican, Mexican to American.

All these different cultures start showing up.

When Larry Lucchino said the Yankees were the evil empire, that struck a chord in those guys and it was all of a sudden, okay, now we've got to beat the Yankees and that's our single objective.

It became anti-Yankee culture with the long hair, the beards, and everything else that went on with it.

When I was in the minor leagues, they went in '04, I saw this culture start to happen. Then we went in '07 and we just kept that same kind of culture, even though we didn't have Pedro at the time, there were still a lot of the same guys on the team.

David Ortiz took over as the leader and Jason Varitek as our captain, which was a great yin and yang. You had Jason who was the captain of the ship and always steadied it in the right direction. And you had fun-loving David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez who didn't give a s*** about anything.

I think the culture that you see today is a little bit different because of social media, because of the difference in actual generations. I'm very, very thankful that I got to play in the era that I did right before social media was big.

The camera phone and everybody always being in your business.

We used to be able to go out '20-man deep' and go to a steakhouse and enjoy a nice dinner and nobody knows where we're going. It was all really, you know, low-key and chill. And now you can't do that anymore.

But I think as far as the way the Red Sox play now and their current culture, it’s very similar to those 13, 18, 7, 4 type teams that you got to get 27 outs against.

This is a team you got to get 27 outs against. They're a pretty gritty team.

If they can minimize the errors and continue what they're doing pitching-wise. If [Lucas] Giolito, Brayan Bello and Crochet all do what they're capable of doing, I think they have a good chance this year.

But the culture is where it's at. You got [Alex] Bregman as the leader.

And you got [Jarren] Duran up at the top kind of as your fun-loving guy that he'll say whatever he wants to say or cuss out a fan if he has to. But they have that ‘it’ factor. Trevor Story is a part of that.

I think that ‘it’ factor became even bigger and better when Rafael Devers left. Their culture is very similar to a championship-winning culture type club.

What’s been the difference maker for the Red Sox this season? (Currently on track to make the playoffs for the first time since 2021.)

Papelbon: The difference-maker for them this year is their pitching. You have a guy in Aroldis Chapman who has lowered his walk rate by like 30 percent to like 15 percent.

He's cut basically his walks in half, mysteriously out of nowhere this year, which he's never been below 30 percent walk rate in his entire career until this year.

He's changed some things in his mechanics that allows him to throw a strike one and pound the zone a little bit better now. But you also have two pitchers that have emerged this year in Ballo and Giolito.

In my opinion, if those two wouldn't have emerged as the pitchers they are today when they're giving you the quality starts that they're giving you.

That goes a long way of saying this is where the team's at because of them. And you obviously have your ace, Garrett Crochet, who's your stopper when you've lost a few in a row.

He gets you that win back or keeps the win streak alive.

They have a good postseason match-up as far as pitching, relief pitchers, and they're going to have to swing the sticks for sure.

How impressed are you with Connelly Early’s debut? When you saw young players break in, what separated the ones who adjusted well from those who struggled?

Papelbon: First off, I think he's a great player and he's going to be able to have a long big league career.

I think the pitchers that adjust better and the ones that are able to adjust on a fly, whether it's a starting pitcher that is adjusting from start to start or whether it's a relief pitcher that's adjusting or making adjustments day to day.

But those adjustments that you have to make in order to stay in the big leagues were key in order to have longevity.

You have to have health as well. You can't do anything without health.

And I've always said availability is the best ability to have. You can't prove yourself or you can't prove your worth on the bench.

You have to be out there putting up stats and posting and being able to play each and every night for 162 games.

That's going to be a big part of his career - being available, staying healthy and making adjustments.

The loss of Roman Anthony to injury seems to have hurt Boston’s offensive momentum. From your perspective, how much can one player’s absence derail a team in the playoff race?

Papelbon: One player can derail a team tremendously, especially if it's a leadoff hitter like Roman Anthony was, and someone who has the ability like Anthony does.

You can't replace that. So when a player that you can't replace, or just fill in a gap, gets hurt, then you see weaknesses in the lineup.

You see pitchers being able to navigate lineups easier without that player in there.

It's also on the pitcher's side of it - that he's sitting there saying, ‘OK, well, I got to face the Red Sox today, but at least I don't have to face Roman Anthony’.

So it's a mindset for him going into the game that's a little bit easier. And sometimes that can do wonders for confidence for a pitcher.

If it's a guy that is a backup catcher or something like that gets hurt, then yeah, that hurts. But you can fill that space a little bit easier than you can with a guy that's a starter that leads off and has the potential that he does.

How integral was the bullpen's role this year to the Red Sox being on track for the playoffs?

Papelbon: It's damn near all of it, honestly and truthfully, because if you look at the very beginning part of the season, when you didn't have Giolito and Ballo throwing the way they are now, it was solely relying on its Bullpen.

The guys that stepped up during then to keep the train on the tracks and not derailing, it was the Bullpen.

The Bullpen's been taxed a lot this year so far.

So hopefully they can get a little bit of rest here in September because they're going to be leaned upon even more in the postseason when pitchers are getting pulled in the fourth and the fifth and not the sixth and the seventh.

What do you make of Kyle Schwarber’s chase at the home run record? Is this kind of pursuit good for the clubhouse, or could there be pressure behind the scenes?

Papelbon: This is something pretty cool. Even when I was playing, I was on the team when David Ortiz had his pursuit to break the single season Red Sox record and he did.

That was pretty cool. But any time you have a player like Kyle Schwaber on a team, you're all rooting for him.

Like every night you're hoping he hits a home run or like you're almost like telling him like, hey, base hits don't matter right now. If you're trying to just hit a home run, just go out there and try to hit a home run because I'm all for it.

The players are rooting for him. There's no question about it.

He has a slight advantage playing in Citizens Bank Park, where it's a short, small field. I've seen many home runs just barely get over that fence that's not too far and left and not too far right.

Trea Turner and Alex Bohm have both been placed on the 10-day injury list - how worrying is their absence so deep into the season?

Papelbon: It’s the same thing for the Phillies as it is with the Red Sox. You're losing a leadoff style hitter that you can't replace.

There's no replacement for Turner. Alex Bohm, you can replace him, but it's going to be tough.

But at the end of the season, everybody's got injuries. Injuries are popping up left and right. You hope that they're just nagging injuries, or injuries that have become the result of 162 games that, hey, maybe all I need is a little rest and some rehab to do, and strengthen it just because you got some tired hammies or something like that.

And you get your strength back. So hopefully those are situations that Alex Bone and Trea Turner and I don't know the extent of their injuries. They keep those usually under wraps, but there's no replacing them. They're going to have to rally and they're going to have to lean on Kyle Schwarber, just like the Red Sox are going to have to lean on Jarren Duran and Alex Bregman.

What do you make of Bryce Harper's leadership this season?

Papelbon: There's no other player that I root for really more than Bryce Harper.

We had our incident where we fought on the field, and that happens. It was just a result of a miscommunication. And that was it.

I don't want to say that it's turned him into more of a leader or not. That's on him. That onus is on him.

But I love watching him play now. Boy, does he play the game hard in the right way. And for most of his career, he has. This was just an instance that I felt he wasn't playing the game the way he should be.

But disagreements happen. I hope that one day he can lead a ball club and get that championship ring. I really do.

Bryce Harper’s now been in the MLB for 13 years. What are your thoughts on his overall legacy? Think he’s one of the best to have ever graced the game, or does the lack of a ring hurt his legacy?

Papelbon: Yeah, you got to get the ring. There's no question. And I believe he will before it's all said and done.

All greatness comes with championships, I believe. That's just part of being great is being able to do that and lead a team to do that. That's what makes people great and takes them to the next step.

That's what makes a guy that's a Hall of Famer from a Hall of Famer that has won three or four World championships. It's just one more notch above if you have it.

Did you see the viral Phillies Karen drama? What was your reaction to this?

Papelbon: Man, my thoughts are she's just cray cray. That lady is crazy and she might need some help.

If you've ever been to a baseball game, man, it's all about the kids and the generations to come that are watching those ball games for the next generation.

That's why you go, and that's why you take kids. I don't know, man, these Phillies fans can be pretty crazy! They're crazy sometimes.

Do you think Cal Raleigh is a lock in for the MVP award, or do you think Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani are still in the reckoning?

Papelbon: Cal Raleigh should win the MVP because he's doing it from the catching position and nobody has ever done what he's doing from the catching position.

That takes precedence over what Aaron Judge is doing or Shohei is doing. So to me, it's Cal Raleigh all the way.

Second, it would probably be Aaron Judge just because the Yankees are nobody without him as well.

But I just think that Cal Raleigh, both teams would be nowhere without either one of them.

I just think Cal Raleigh does a little bit more by being the catcher.

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