"The Clubhouse" Review

A Blog By Dean

Overall Takeaway

This documentary should never have happened. That is not to say that its production value is not high; it is, and I commend everyone who worked on it because having to sit there and record 162 games of the 2024 Red Sox season seems like purgatory or worse.

There was no reason for this team to be the focus of a documentary, and everyone knew that.

1. There aren’t super-compelling players

2. There is no real “superstar”

3. The team was not good the year before, and made no moves to make them better.

4. The fan base has been furious with ownership for years.

Now, if they wanted to do a documentary in 2025 after the team finally started making moves and their young players were moving up to the big leagues, that would have made sense. To me, it seems like some Netflix executive thought it would be a good idea to do this after the 2004 World Series doc.

I have not really rated shows, but I am going to do it here. I am giving this a 6.5/10. It was better than most of the garbage that is on TV, but if it were not the Red Sox, I probably would have tuned out pretty early. This was less of a baseball documentary and more of a people documentary.

Let me break down my thoughts more in-depth below.

What I Loved

• Jarren Duran

  • Duran, Cora, and Casas are the three people who get the most screen time here. Of them, Duran is by far the most compelling. Obviously, a lot of focus goes into his struggles with mental health, and there is a whole episode that centers around that. However, he just seems like the most genuine person on the team that they focus on. He is super cool with the fans, super honest in the interviews, normal, and overall down to earth.

• Tyler O’Neil

  • Tyler gets a lot more screentime than expected, which only makes me miss him more. He seems to love Boston.

• Difference Between Front Office And Dugout

  • I knew there was a distinct separation between the dugout and the Front Office, but I did not realize how disconnected they are. I thought Cora had a lot more say on personnel, but that does not seem to be the case. Breslow runs the show.

• Analytical Meetings/Team Meetings

  • When I heard there was going to be a documentary crew following the team around for a year, I was hoping to get more behind-the-scenes looks at how everything operates. You don’t….. but when you do, it is great!

• Everyone Knowing Team Sucked

  • I am glad that they did not try to make it seem like this team had World Series aspirations. The players, the Front Office, the security guards, the fans, the wives, EVERYONE knew this team wasn’t great.

What I Was "Mid" About

• Not Enough Minor Leagues

  • It was a huge missed opportunity not to have more camera crews with the minor league studs. I also think it’s hilarious that you don’t see Kristian Campbell at all.

• Too Much Section 10 Podcast

  • This isn’t a complaint, but a lot of Section 10 audio was laid over transitions between games. I get that they are the biggest Red Sox podcast, but I wanted to hear other voices.

• Brayan Bello

  • I definitely feel for Bello because his wife and child were not able to be with him. However, he comes off as moody throughout the documentary. I also have a hard time feeling bad when someone is making an insane amount of money. More on that below.

What I Didn't Love

• Too Much Triston Casas

  • I might not have made it through this documentary if he hadn't gotten injured. He was by far the most annoying part of the whole production. While everyone else seemed natural and themselves, he seemed to be putting on an act the entire time.

• Lack of Masataka Yoshida

  • If the producers had a brain and wanted to reach Japan's massive audience, then they wouldn’t have waited till episode five to show Yoshida….. and then barely show him again.

• Lack of Rafael Devers

  • My guess is that Rafael did not want to be on camera very often. We see him early on, after he made comments about the team, has to talk to Breslow and Cora. After that, you don’t see him. Kind of a miss for me.

• Lack of Jason Varitek

  • He is one of the greatest Red Sox players of our lifetime, and he gets one two-minute clip. Insane.

• This Was An Alex Cora Documentary

  • I should have assumed going in that the focus would be on the manager more than the players. Cora was the central figure, even more so than Breslow. I just wanted more Devers and Yoshida.

• Rich People Complaining

  • I'm sorry, but there is nothing else in the world that drives people crazy more than hearing people making tens of millions of dollars complain about missing their family and having a difficult work-life balance. There was A LOT of that in this documentary. Clearly, Netflix wanted to try to humanize people. Did not work.

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