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.

BOSTON -- Several key players from the fabled 2004 Red Sox were in town on Friday night for the eighth annual Pedro Martinez Gala, and they had rave reviews for “The Comeback,” a terrific 20-year retrospective docuseries by Netflix on the iconic squad that snapped an 86-year World Series championship drought.

The one common thought from the players assembled at the event is that they would now like to see the comeback of the modern-day Red Sox.

Boston didn’t make the postseason the past three years, and five of the past six, but the core of exciting young players who got key experience last season and a crop of elite prospects has the franchise in good position.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has a key offseason in front of him to add pieces that will make the Red Sox top contenders again, and the team’s most storied alumni will be watching with intrigue.

Team president/CEO Sam Kennedy and Breslow have both been on record several times in recent weeks saying that it’s time for the Red Sox to get back to being a team capable of winning the division and competing for a championship.

“I think that it's important for where we are and the city that we play in,” said Jason Varitek, the team’s former captain and a current member of the coaching staff. “They deserve the right to have a team that has an opportunity to push for the front of the division.”

The Red Sox are trying to get back into the conversation with the elite teams.

“I really need to have the Red Sox represent like we used to,” said Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, who helps his former club as an instructor in Spring Training. “A Yankees fan told me this year, ‘I used to love going to watch you pitch, because we had someone really good that we needed to beat, and that was you. Now it doesn't feel like we have the same push.’ And I'm going to tell my pitchers all that, because it really hit me to know that the Yankees fans wanted to go see me because I was someone that represented the Red Sox, and I represented the challenge.

“And I want those guys [on the current team] to do the same thing; to go out there, represent the Red Sox and become a challenge to the Yankees. That fan told me, ‘I'm not as interested to go and see the games between the Yankees and the Red Sox, because they don't have anybody [like you].’ That is personal.”

While Tanner Houck made strong strides to become an All-Star in 2024, and Kutter Crawford and Brayan Bello hit some key points in their development, it’s likely the Red Sox are going to need to add an ace via trade or free agency to get back to what they used to be.

“It always starts with pitching with me,” said Varitek. “I think historically, it has always shown that that [true No. 1 pitcher] has been a valuable lead to the team. From David [Price] to [Chris] Sale to Pedro [Martinez] to [Curt] Schilling and [Josh Beckett] at one point; when you have people like that at the top of rotation, it makes the rest of rotation better.”

“Pitching, pitching, pitching,” said Derek Lowe, who won all three postseason clinchers for Boston in 2004. “I think every team is looking for it. They're young, obviously. They're doing exactly what they believe in, for not only now, but the long term. As a Red Sox fan, as a [former] Red Sox player ... yes, we'd love to see [them] in the playoffs every year, right? It just hasn't happened over the last three years. But I know they're working their tail off. They're gonna get better.”

A certain former slugger who has a plaque in the Hall of Fame wouldn’t mind seeing someone like free agent Teoscar Hernández join forces in Boston’s lineup with Rafael Devers.

“That would be great,” said David Ortiz. “I mean, to get a right-handed bat like that hitting behind Raffy, that would be amazing. Raffy needs some major production around him, so why not? I don’t think we’re too far away from getting a few pieces to help. Hopefully they just go ahead and do that and give the fans the opportunity to go back to those happy days.”