Plus, I’m really, really trying to be right for once. Desperate, even. Want to see what that feels like, you know?
With those parameters set, here are 10 Boston sports predictions for 2025.
Jerod Mayo is one-and-done
No, it’s not entirely fair to fire the Patriots’ first-year coach. The roster is the least-talented they’ve had since the early ‘90s. It’s never easy to replace a legend, and Bill Belichick is as legendary as it gets. We knew there would be a learning curve given his minimum of experience.
And yet, one question hovers over everything: What, exactly, has Mayo done well? Can you name anything?
The defense has regressed with roughly the same personnel. Young players who have accomplished nothing in the NFL are chattering about “changes” being necessary. He’s inconsistent at best with his messaging. He did seem to handle Drake Maye’s development well … and yet that was entirely negated on Saturday, when he had Maye still in the game down 30 with more than 6 minutes left after he’d already taken multiple shots to the head.
It will not be easy for the Krafts, especially Robert, to admit that Mayo was not ready for this. But they will, and they’ll hire the coach they should have hired in the first place, Mike Vrabel.
The Red Sox will not sign Alex Bregman
I don’t quite feel duped by the braintrust’s comments that the Red Sox would be willing to spend on big-ticket free agents this offseason, even if it meant going over the competitive balance tax threshold. With the acquisitions of Garrett Crochet in a trade and Walker Buehler as a free agent, this is a more appealing team than those of recent seasons, and should be a playoff contender.
But the reality is that they have not won the bidding on the biggest names, from Juan Soto to Max Fried to Corbin Burnes, and so once again it appears they are tapping the brakes rather than going full throttle.
Bregman is an interesting case, a player who has been on a slight decline but still fits the Red Sox’ needs in multiple ways. Alas, the former LSU Tiger becomes a Detroit Tiger, and the Red Sox, while better, aren’t as much better as they could be.
The Patriots trade the No. 1 pick
More great news, Robert and Jonathan!
In an NFL season featuring a charcuterie board of lousy teams — nine went into the final weekend with four or fewer wins — the Patriots rank as the lousiest. Fortunately, they are in an unusual spot for a team with the No. 1 overall pick, already in possession of a potential franchise quarterback. That means they can (and will) trade the pick to a QB-desperate team for a bushel of choices, which will allow them to get help in other necessary areas, which is pretty much everything and everywhere.
So, the trade: The No. 1 choice to the Raiders for first-rounders in 2025 and ’26, a second-rounder in ’25, a third-rounder in ’26, and receiver/old friend Jakobi Meyers.
The Patriots get a parcel of picks. And Raiders minority owner Tom Brady gets to work with Shedeur Sanders, whom he’s already mentored.
The Bruins will miss the playoffs
The Bruins are third in the Atlantic Division with a 20-15-4 record and 44 points. They have 2 more points than the fourth-place Lightning … but they’ve played five more games. The probabilities website playoffstatus.com puts the Bruins’ chances of missing the playoffs at 46 percent and gives the Lightning just a 10 percent chance of staying home.
The Bruins’ best hope is to earn one of the two conference wild cards, but this roster has seen a talent drain the last 18 months. They’re one significant injury away from falling into a rut that they won’t be able to pull out of. Maybe then the reckoning comes for Don Sweeney.
The Celtics will repeat as NBA champions
The championship belt has been heavy at times. The Celtics are wearing the bull’s-eye every single night. Sometimes their intensity wavers. Their long-range shooting has been inconsistent. They’ve already lost more games at home (5) than they did all of last regular season (4).
But this is how it goes when you’re the champ. The regular season is going to be a grind. The real test, the only test, comes in the postseason.
This team knows what to do, how to do it, and has the institutional memory of having done it. The path will be much more difficult, and Kristaps Porzingis’s health is a possession-by-possession concern. But the Celtics will overcome the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals and the not-quite-ready-for-prime-time Thunder in the Finals, with both series going seven games.
They’re going to know that parade route by heart.
And five more, presented as certainties, but without comment:
⋅ The Celtics’s Payton Pritchard beats out the Hawks’ DeAndre Hunter for NBA Sixth-Man of the Year.
⋅ Dustin Pedroia receives 14.4 percent of the vote in his first year on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, remaining in consideration for future years.
⋅ A sports media prediction: WEEI makes another prominent change to its afternoon drive program.
⋅ David Pastrnak fails to reach 30 goals in a non-COVID season for the first time since 2015-16.
⋅ Kristian Campbell emerges as the Red Sox’ everyday second baseman in May and finishes second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. Still oughta sign Bregman, though.
Chad Finn can be reached at chad.finn@globe.com. Follow him @GlobeChadFinn.