I don’t think it’s a matter of greed as it is a matter of teams. I grew up rooting for the 70s Sox that came heartbreakingly close to winning a championship, and suffered a heartrending collapse. I wasn’t just rooting for the Red Sox, I was rooting for Yaz and Fisk, Lynn, Rice, and Dewey, the Rooster and Remy, El Tiante, the Spaceman, and the Eck. That none of those teams won bothered me.
It bothered me that Clemens and Hurst and the Can and Boggs and Greenwell and Burks never won here. It bothered me that Valentin and Mo Vaughn amd Troy O’Leary and Nomar never won here. (Although I guess Nomar got a ring from 2004, but that’s not the same.)
If the Idiots never won, it would have been crushing, especially since it would have meant that Pedro’s brilliant time here would have ended without a ring. If those special teams in 2007 and 2013 hadn’t finished the job, it would have hurt.
The MFYs and Astros are going to be serious threats for the next few years. The Indians perhaps as well. On the other side those Dodgers are going away, nor are the Cubs, the Brewers, and the Braves and maybe the Phillies are coming.
But now I never have to worry about Mookie Betts being a World Series champion, because he now has a ring. As does Benintendi, and JBJ. Devers won a ring as a baby like the guy he plays next to, and now he can chase X trying to catch and surpass him in rings as they both get further along in their careers. BROCKHOLT is not just an all-star, he’s also a champion. I never again have to hear about Price’s contract, or Porcello’s extension, or the Lackey trade, or the prospects we surrendered for Sale and Kimbrel, because all of that gave us this year.
So yes, I hope this team wins again, but if they don’t, it won’t be a pre-2003 like disaster. But if they or future Red Sox team puts up the best record in baseball in some season to come, it will hurt if they don’t finish the job with a championship, because that’s what’s expected now.
And as long we continue to be blessed with the ownership group that’s currently in place, I imagine those expectations will continue to be fulfilled every few years or so.