Even before yesterday’s opening-day win, I decided to actually follow the Red Sox this year “after five seasons of abject mediocrity,” as the Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy aptly puts it. I decided to resume my old shallow (as opposed to recent non-existent) interest in the Red Sox after reading these MLB 2025 preview predictions by Globe staff writers and figuring it couldn’t hurt to follow the Sox through the first half of the season, after which I could always dump them if they looked like losers again, allowing me to transfer my full mid-summer bandwagon attention to Mike Vrabel and the Pats. … This is my bold declaration: I shall learn the names of all Red Sox starters this season (or at least most of them) and know approximately where they stand in the AL East on any given day (plus or minus a position or two in the standings).