This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Through chaos can come … camaraderie.
That’s just how life is for a Major League Baseball team sometimes.
The Red Sox thought they were taking a routine getaway flight to Minneapolis on Sunday night, when the airplane was temporarily diverted to Detroit. The reason for the impromptu layover was to let some of the massive winds that were projected for the rest of the flight to calm down a bit.
It turns out the skies didn’t calm down, and everyone from the flight attendants to many members on the team’s traveling party called it the most turbulent flight they had ever experienced.
Some people on the team charter got motion sickness that led to vomiting. Righty reliever Garrett Whitlock endured the worst of it and was still hooked up to an IV on Monday and wasn’t able to pitch in the game.
By Tuesday, Whitlock returned with a scoreless inning, and the Red Sox were ready to have some fun with the unfortunate situation. When Ceddanne Rafaela slid in to third with a triple in the eventual 8-5 victory, he made wobbly airplane wing signals with his hands as he looked toward the dugout.
For the rest of the game, several others did the same when they reached base safely. The ritual continued throughout Wednesday’s 13-1 romp on getaway day.
Rather than dwelling on what was a brutal experience in real time, the Red Sox have found a way to have some fun with it.
“It was awful. It was one of the worst, probably the worst flight I’ve been on turbulence-wise,” said Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story. “I don't get motion sick, but it took everything in me not to let it out. Yeah, the boys were struggling. But now we're embracing it.”
As the best bonding moments tend to do, the wing celebration for hits happened organically.
“I didn’t even know we were doing that until I saw other guys doing it,” said Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran. “It took me two seconds to realize what we're doing. I was like, ‘Why are we doing that?’ I was like, ‘Oh yeah, we just had a massive turbulence coming in’, so I guess that's why we're doing it.”
Usually when you fly from one MLB city to another, the journey doesn’t produce amusement park analogies. At the time it was happening, there was little amusement from the players and staff who had to endure it.
“It was the worst sustained turbulence I've ever experienced,” said Red Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito. “It was 45 minutes straight of left, right, dropping down. I was saying, at least on a roller coaster, you know when the drop is coming, or you know when you're rolling right or rolling left, you can see it. But sitting on a plane, it was like, ‘Oh boy.’ At one point, I kind of flew up out of my seat. I was like, ‘OK, it’s time to put the seatbelt on.”’
Due to some recent education he gained from a television show, Giolito knew the Red Sox weren’t in any real danger.
“Randomly, I know enough about aviation that I know commercial airline jets never crash from turbulence,” said Giolito. “I watched The Rehearsal [on HBO] with Nathan Fielder, and that last season was all about aviation. So that was on my mind. I was like, OK, this isn't like engine failure or anything. We're just in some turbulence, so let's work through it, credit to the pilots, they did a very good job. The landing was really smooth.”
And the 2025 Red Sox added a shared experience that could deepen their already strong bond.
“Those types of things can bring people closer, that's for sure,” said Giolito. “It’s kind of like battling through adversity.”