The Red Sox should ABSOLUTELY take their championship trip to the White House ... so says ex-MLB star Brad Penny, who says the team needs to support Donald Trump regardless of their opinions of him.
It's up in the air whether Boston will make its post-World Series visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave ... especially after manager Alex Cora publicly criticized the President in September.
But, Penny says it would be a huge mistake to not go ... telling TMZ Sports the team should be there.
"You gotta go," the ex-star pitcher says ... "You support the President whether you voted for him or not ... I think they just gotta go."
Penny knows a thing or two about those trips ... the 2-time All-Star went to George W. Bush's White House after his Marlins won it all back in 2003.
He says the trip was unforgettable ... and Red Sox players would regret not making it.
In fact -- Brad tells us he thinks Boston can send a strong message to those protesting Trump by going.
"All those protests and stuff, to me, we want everybody who's in office to do good ... I feel like a lot of people want Trump to fail and it's unfortunate."
Unclear whether Red Sox players will listen to Brad ... but we know at least one of their pitchers is on board.