Boston's 2013 championship team, and the season these guys had one year prior (2012):
C - Saltalamacchia - 25 hr, .222/.288/.454/.742, 97 op+
1b - Napoli - 24 hr, .227/.343/.469/.812, 113 ops+
2b - Pedroia - 15 hr, .290/.347/.449/.797, 114 ops+
3b - Middlebrooks - 15 hr, .288/.325/.509/.835, 121 ops+
SS - Drew - 7 hr, .223/.309/.348/.657, 81 ops+
LF - Gomes - 18 hr, .262/.377/.491/.868, 142 ops+
CF - Ellsbury - 4 hr, .271/.313/.379/.682, 84 ops+
RF - Victorino - 11 hr, .255/.321/.383/.704, 91 ops+
DH - Ortiz - 23 hr, .318/.415/.611/1.026, 173 ops+
SP - Lester - 9-14, 4.82 era, 1.38 whip
SP - Lackey - out all year with injury (but in 2011 he had a 6.41 era)
SP - Dempster - 12-8, 3.38 era, 1.20 whip
SP - Doubront - 11-10, 4.86 era, 1.45 whip
SP - Buchholz - 11-8, 4.56 era, 1.33 whip
Then they added Peavy at the trade deadline, and til that point in 2013, he'd gone 8-4, 4.28 era, 1.14 whip
RP - Koji - 0-0, 1.75 era, 0.64 whip
RP - Workman - not on the MLB roster, in the minors
RP - Tazawa - 1-1, 1.43 era, 0.96 whip
RP - Breslow - 3-0, 2.70 era, 1.17 whip
RP - Miller - 3-2, 3.35 era, 1.19 whip
RP - Bailey - 1-1, 7.04 era, 1.89 whip
RP - Aceves - 4-1, 4.86 era, 1.73 whip
Long story short, as we looked at the roster going into the 2013 season, the lineup appeared to have one monster in Papi, a solid, AS-level player in Peoria, and a bunch of guys who were ok, but nothing to write home about. Four out of the nine lineup spots were coming off seasons where their ops+ was below 100 (thus, below average).
The starting rotation looked very sketchy. Lackey was horrible with Boston and was coming off an injury that cost him his entire 2012 season. Lester looked pretty bad in 2012 and he was the "ace". Dempster was ok. Doubront was pretty bad. Buchholz had talent but had looked like he couldn't really put it together.
The bullpen looked pretty good with Koji, Tarawa, Breslow, and Miller, but there were major weak spots there too.
Plus a new manager in John Farrell, who was coming off a 73-89 season with Toronto.
In other words, there was NO indication that that squad would roll to 97 wins and a World Series championship. But they did.
Red Sox Nation.... don't lose hope.