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Beyond a few magical months this summer, the story of 2026 Red Sox was far from a success
“Regardless of all the special things that happened this summer, and there were quite a few, the goal is to win the World Series, and that ended for us tonight."
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COMMENTARY
The script seemingly wrote itself.
The 2026 Red Sox — having appeared rudderless after jettisoning their long-time manager and tumbling to the bottom of the MLB standings — were going to give this city a summer after all.
Under the stewardship of interim manager Chad Tracy and buoyed by a ragtag crew of platoon hitters, bench players, and dirtdogs, a Boston baseball club toiling in no-man’s land for most of the spring was hitting its stride as the temperature started to rise.
In a year where little went right in terms of injuries, roster overhaul, and a reliance on an influx of young hitters, Boston’s pivot toward pitching and defense seemingly kept them off the mat all season.
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And when their bats started to stir in the summer, Tracy’s club was almost unbeatable.
You know the moments at this point for a team once mired 14 games below .500.
The 15-game winning streak. A 32-5 surge up the standings.
Airplane woes that gave way to wins on the baseball field. “Tarps Off” at Fenway. A 13-inning marathon against the White Sox.
What Boston lacked in star power in its lineup, it made up for in small-ball execution, clutch hitting, and an innate ability to have a new player rise to the occasion seemingly every night in July and early August.
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For a time, the 2026 Red Sox reminded fans longing for a competitive baseball season of the magic that can be drawn from a 162-game gauntlet — and offered hope that such a spirited run would carry over into the fall.
Fenway Park might have been a conduit of energy and enthusiasm throughout the summer. But fans don’t pack those cramped, wooden grandstand seats in the sweaty stretches of July … just for the ballpark to close up shop in October.
This year, for a time, felt different.
And ultimately it was. Just not the way many Red Sox fans envisioned.
The 2025 Red Sox — trudging through a less turbulent campaign despite plenty of Rafael Devers drama — won 89 games, took Game 1 against the Yankees in their Wild Card Series … only to have their offense dry up in a decisive Game 3 in the Bronx.
The 2026 Red Sox certainly carried fans on a roller coaster run of emotions — with its summertime peaks offering a dopamine boost far beyond what this team provided this city over the last four-plus years.
But the end result? Another playoffs rematch with the Yankees, with even more catastrophic results.
There would be no decisive Game 3 in New York this time around. Instead, a dramatic, unexpected, and seemingly destined campaign ended in an uncompetitive faceplant against Boston’s loathsome rival.
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In the Yankees’ two-game sweep against Boston, the Red Sox were outscored 18-2, and outhit 26-7.
“We didn’t play good at all and we didn’t pitch, we didn’t hit,” Willson Contreras said postgame, per Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. And when you don’t have those two, it’s tough to win. They played better than us. And that’s why they advanced.”
As ironic as it was for baseball products from the Commonwealth in Walpole’s Cam Schlittler and Cohasset’s Ben Rice to hammer some of the final nails in the coffin for their hometown club, Boston didn’t exactly put up much of a fight en route to its unceremonious end.
For the second fall in a row, Boston’s bats were silent in the Bronx. Dating back to last season’s Wild Card Series against New York, Boston went a whopping 26.2 innings without scoring a run — until a solo shot from Contreras broke that extended scoring drought.
A bullpen that held court for as one of the best reliever corps in the league all year splintered down the stretch.
Boston’s two starters in Payton Tolle and Sonny Gray relinquished just two earned runs in 9.1 innings of work this series — only for Boston’s ‘pen to cough up 15 earned runs over 6.2 innings against a Yankee lineup without Aaron Judge.
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The stakes weren’t as high as Grady Little daydreaming from the dugout in 2003, but Tracy — fresh off being appointed as Boston’s full-time manager — didn’t exactly inspire confidence with his feel for both games, especially when it came to early hooks for his starters in order to roll with a combusting southpaw in Erik Miller.
“Regardless of all the special things that happened this summer, and there were quite a few, the goal is to win the World Series, and that ended for us tonight,” Tracy said postgame. “So it’s frustrating. And there’s a lot of things you can say, but in the moment, right now, I think the guys only care that we lost. And it’s going to take some time to get over that.”
It was an ugly end to a memorable season for the Red Sox. But season might be giving this team far too much credit.
Because beyond that miraculous six-week run in July and August, watching the 2026 Red Sox was largely an exercise in pained patience and disheartening results for fans seeking sustained success and upward trajectory from their favorite team.
In a cruel twist of fate, the future of the Red Sox after last year’s loss to the Yankees felt a lot brighter than where this current roster is at. And that’s not even factoring in the seemingly inevitable work stoppage set to break the hearts of baseball fans in the coming months.
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The 2025 Red Sox’ playoff run was short-lived, yes. But plenty of optimism was rooted in a team set to pen a new chapter — backed by a stacked squad of blue-chip prospects, and a revamped core of exciting talent like Garrett Crochet, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, and others.
Yes, a full offseason this winter (one that might go far longer than any of us want) should do wonders for a Red Sox roster that appears to be held together by bubble gum and scotch tape. A healthy Crochet, Roman Anthony, and several other players will make a major difference, no doubt.
But do Red Sox fans feel as confident in Anthony moving forward as they did last year? An unfortunate oblique strain robbed Anthony of critical at-bats in September and October of 2025, but that was an ailment cast aside as a freak injury.
But after recurring hand/wrist injuries sidelined him for most of this season — including a setback this week that limited him to just two playoff at-bats — serious questions remain about Anthony’s durability going into another campaign.
Tolle and Jake Bennett were undoubtedly success stories. But Marcelo Mayer offered little before getting shipped to San Francisco for Miller, while Kristian Campbell spent his entire year reworking his swing in Triple-A purgatory.
Boston’s pitching pipeline was also siphoned off to Baltimore as part of a deadline deal for Adley Rutschman. The veteran catcher batted just .222 in the regular season with Boston, and bungled several plays in a disastrous six-run sixth inning for the Yankees on Wednesday.
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Two of Boston’s top players this season were 34-year-old Contreras and soon-to-be 37-year-old Gray. Both are still good players, but aren’t exactly franchise building blocks for sustained success.
Gray — a pending free agent who could also hang up his spikes — also wasn’t exactly pleased with Tracy’s decision to pull him after just one run allowed and 70 pitches on Wednesday.
Even players seemingly set to be long-term contributors on this club like Abreu and Rafaela have left a lot to be desired in the playoffs — going a combined 1-for-29 at the plate through two Wild Card series in 2025 and 2026.
Those concerns about whether significant portions of this roster are enough to contend for a World Series title spilled over to Boston’s manager after Tracy’s shaky showing in managing his pitchers in crunch time.
The 2026 Red Sox season was not a failure, especially given where they were in late June.
But it was also far from a success — with Boston both unable to seize a prime opportunity this postseason in a weakened American League, and now tasked with trudging forward with plenty of question marks over this team’s long-term hopes.
The 2026 Red Sox gave Boston one hell of a summer.
But in a city where titles trump mid-year turnarounds and feel-good tales in August, the positives drawn from this current club now ring rather hollow.
For the second year in a row, the Yankees baptized their clubhouse in champagne and Budweiser.
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And roughly 200 miles north, Fenway Park will lie dormant this fall, more than 1,800 days since Boston’s beloved ballpark hosted a playoff game.
It’s a sad ending to a season rooted in so much promise.
The final pages of a script that — much to the pain of Red Sox fans — have become all too familiar as of late.
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