Red Sox's Sonny Gray Calls World Series Shot, Disses Yankees In Post-Trade Remarks

Sonny Gray plays for the Boston Red Sox now, and he made it abundantly clear that there's no team he'd rather be joining.

After arriving in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals that was finalized last week, Gray had his first chance to address Red Sox fans through the media on Tuesday. The 36-year-old is in the final year of a contract he signed with St. Louis before the 2024 season, and Boston is paying $21 million of the $41 million he was still owed.

Gray had two primary messages to share, and they're probably the two best things he possibly could have said to get Red Sox fans on his side.

If you like our content, choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google.

Gray excited to chase title, 'hate the Yankees'

Gray first made it clear that he believes this Red Sox team can compete for a World Series title in 2026 after making it back to the playoffs this past season.

"I wanted to go to a market that is super competitive," Gray said, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. "We have a chance to win the World Series and make a deep playoff run. I wanted to be a part of it.”

Gray also wore a World Series hat during his virtual press availability (that appeared to be from the Red Sox's win in 2007) and said his sole career focus at this point is to try to win a ring.

Sonny Gray is ready to take home a ring. He wore a 2007 World Series hat to his media introduction today.

“We have a chance to win the World Series and make a deep playoff run. I wanted to be a part of it.”

“I wanted to go to a market that is super-competitive.”

quotes via… pic.twitter.com/XthXBg5CtT
— Matthew Crory (@matthewcrory) December 2, 2025

If all that didn't endear Gray enough to Red Sox fans, though, his thoughts on the arch-rival New York Yankees certainly did.

"I never wanted to go there in the first place... but I do appreciate my time there," Gray said, per Speier and Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald. “It’s easy to go to a place now where it’s easy to hate the Yankees.”

Gray pitched for the Yankees for 1 1/2 seasons (2017-2018), and it was by far the worst stop of his career, as he posted a 4.51 ERA in 195 2/3 innings. So not only will he be looking to prove his slightly inflated ERA from this past season (4.28) was an outlier, but he'll be out to stick it to New York in a much more direct way than struggling on the mound for the home team.

The Red Sox still have plenty of work to do this offseason, but fans have to be excited about the buy-in from the team's first major acquisition.

More MLB: Red Sox Insider Suggests Trading $50M Gold Glover, Keeping Jarren Duran