Thanksgiving. Many of us believe it’s the best holiday of the year. We gather with family and friends to enjoy great food and watch a little football. Hopefully, somewhere along the way, we take a moment to give thanks for the blessings in our lives.

Sports fans in New England continue to be blessed by an unprecedented run of success. It’s time once again for our annual look at what each team should be thankful for (in no particular order.)

• The Patriots should be thankful that the NFL has become a league ruled by mediocrity. The Pats began October with a 33-30 loss to Carolina. At that point they were 2-2 and had scored one more point than there opponents over four games. Since then Bill Belichick’s team is 6-0 and has outscored the opposition 161-75. We thought the Raiders would put up a fight in Mexico? We thought the Bills would put up a fight for the AFC East title? C’mon, man. The only team standing between New England and Super Bowl LII is the Patriots themselves. And Belichick is too good a coach to let his team beat itself. See you in Minneapolis.

• Celtics fans thought their season went sideways with Gordon Hayward’s grotesque ankle injury on opening night. Instead, this has become Kyrie Irving’s team as Brad Stevens coached the Green to one of the longest winning streaks in franchise history. And that’s quite a history.

Young players like Jaylen Brown have cemented their positions alongside Irving and Al Horford. It’s a gritty, fun-to-watch team that had the Garden shaking to its core in last week’s win over the Golden State Warriors. After the game, Golden State Coach Steve Kerr called the Celtics the “team of the future in the East.” That future will eventually include Hayward. Surprisingly, we won’t have to wait until his return to see Boston compete for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

• The Bruins’ winning streak is considerably more modest than their brethren on the parquet, but taking two of three on the West Coast was a significant development for a very young team. The Bruins took impressive wins over the Kings and Sharks despite the fact that forwards Brad Marchand, David Backes, Anders Bjork and Ryan Spooner remain out with injuries. Rookie forwards Jake DeBrusk, Peter Cehlarik and Danton Heinen have all stepped up to play bigger roles in the depleted lineup – and all three scored goals in the two wins. Charlie McAvoy continues to develop into one of the top young defensemen in the game.

Bruce Cassidy’s team is still on the outside looking in on the Eastern Conference playoff group, but they should become a more formidable team as they get veteran forwards back on the ice. If they don’t lose too much ground in the next few weeks they may be able to put together a run back to the playoffs for the second straight year.

• Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski began his offseason shopping last week at the general managers’ meetings in Orlando. He didn’t land a trade or sign a free agent, but he did get a taste of what the market will bear for a slugger to solidify his lineup. The MLB Winter Meetings are three weeks away. Last year Dombrowski came back from that December gathering with Chris Sale, Mitch Moreland and Tyler Thornburg. There’s little doubt he plans on doing something to shake up his team in the coming weeks.

You know you are living well as a sports fan when your baseball team feels back-to-back 93-win, division championship seasons is not good enough. Dombrowski fired John Farrell after that 186-win run and replaced him with Alex Cora. That alone is the biggest sign that the Red Sox feel they are built not just to make the playoffs but to go deep into the postseason.

All four Boston teams share that feeling. If you’re a fan of those teams, there’s never been a time to be more thankful.

Tom Caron is a studio host for Red Sox broadcasts on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.

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