The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox Season 1 Review

The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox (2025-)

Season 1 - 8 episodes (2025 April 8)
Watch The Clubhouse on Netflix
Starring: Jarren Duran, Tristan Casas, Alex Cora, Craig Breslow, Tyler O'Neill, Cam Booser, Brayan Bello, Joe Castiglione
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer

Plot
Follows the Boston Red Sox during the 2024 MLB season with unprecedented access to players, coaches and executives.

Verdict
I'm a baseball fan. I'll watch every season of this no matter what, so that's my bias. This chooses a team that doesn't have any huge stars, but it does have plenty of interesting characters. I don't know the intent. This isn't for a baseball nerd, but it also seems like more than an introduction. This focuses on personal stories, which makes this more of a general reality show. If anything, I wish it had a wider scope. How many people work in the front office? How much does the team watch minor league players and what factors go into promotions? The series is nice but shallow aside from a few deep dives on players, mainly Casas and especially Duran. I would love to see how a baseball operation runs.
It depends.

Review
The bar for amazing sports documentaries is ESPN's 30 for 30. The only sport I follow is baseball, but those documentaries were riveting regardless of the sport. This series doesn't live up to that, but it's not meant to be a drama. This does have some great moments. My favorite might be when Jarren's car won't start and Tristan calls a limo service thinking it's AAA.

This reminds me of 2011's The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants where we follow the Giants baseball team for a season.

I expected more episodes for following an entire season. Baseball is a grueling, and I assumed we see more of the grind. This television season bounces around in the timeline as each episode primarily focuses on one person. That might be players, the manager, or the general manager. Since I follow baseball, I knew all of the players. This provides  depth and insight to the season but that also feels superficial. While manager Alex Cora is featured in several episodes, his answers about the season feel are generic.

Each episode generally focuses on a particular person. Tristan Casas is a focus early. He's certainly unique, setting out to subtlety rile people up by painting his fingernails. For the Red Sox, it's a tough season and things don't go well. Trevor Story goes down early with an injury.

E4: Jarren Duran, Justin Turner

In one episode Jarren Duran is working on his Ford Bronco after it won't start post game. You just don't think pro athletes are banging on relays under the hood of their car. As Tristan tells him, he shouldn't be doing that. Jarren feels like the star of the show. In his feature episode he discusses his mental health which isn't something athletes often reveal. It's a standout episode as athletes are rarely that vulnerable.

Episode seven feels the most baseball. It's just passed the trade deadline and the team is struggling in August. If they're going to make the playoffs, they must play better. Each episode skips around. We don't even see the bullpen until the final episode, and I'd love an episode of just sitting in the bullpen during the game and see how the guys pass the time.

E6: Tyler O'Neill

This isn't a show for people that don't follow baseball, but it also isn't a show for fans that want to go into the clubhouse and front office. It's more of a light recap of the Red Sox season with a few interest pieces. I'd guess some players don't want to be on camera. Rafael Devers is the biggest start on the team and he's not featured. Neither is Story. While he's injured, what does a player do during that time?

This begins with the thrill of the new season and the prospect of what the year could hold. The grind of the season and plenty of injuries has the team fighting until the end, on the edge of playoffs until their season concludes.