Boston Red Sox
“To put ourselves in the position we did, I don’t think you care much how it gets done.”
Willson Contreras and the Red Sox clinched a playoff berth on Sunday. (Photo by Mark Taylor/Getty Images)
September 20, 2026
2 minutes to read
The Boston Red Sox fell to the Rays, 5-1, on Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field. But shortly after the game wrapped, the Red Sox turned the visiting clubhouse in St. Petersburg into the champagne-soaked party.
Why?
Even with Boston losing on Sunday, the Red Sox officially clinched a playoff berth shortly after their game went final — marking the second year in a row that Boston has punched a ticket to the postseason.
The Red Sox had their eyes glued to the TV in the visiting clubhouse after their game wrapped, as Boston still could have clinched a playoff appearance had the Atlanta Braves beaten the Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon.
The Braves did their part, beating Houston, 4-2, to set off the celebration for Boston.
And fittingly enough, it was the grandson of a Red Sox legend who played the largest part in that win for Atlanta on Sunday.
Mike Yastrzemski — the grandson of Carl Yastrzemski — broke open a 1-1 deadlock between Atlanta and Houston in the sixth inning with a three-run shot, giving the Braves a lead they did not relinquish for the rest of the game.
That big fly from Yastrzemski put Boston on a course for a playoff berth — a result that few expected just a few months ago.
Boston was seemingly doomed for a lost season in June, with the Red Sox mired near the bottom of the entire MLB standings with a 32-46 record in June.
But the Red Sox — led by interim manager Chad Tracy and fueled by a scorching 31-5 run in July/August — reversed their fortunes in short order.
After dropping 14 games below .500, the Red Sox have gone 52-26 since then.
According to ESPN Insights, the 2026 Red Sox are just the fourth team (in the World Series era) to make the playoffs after being 14 or more games under .500 in the same season.
Two of those three previous teams who pulled themselves out of such a sizable hole in the standings made the World Series, with the Boston Braves winning a title in 1914.
It remains to be seen if the 2026 Red Sox have a Cinderella run in them, with the first order of business being a likely best-of-three series at Yankee Stadium in the Wild-Card Series set to begin later this month.
Boston will face a daunting test against a stout Yankees pitching rotation if that matchup is locked in for the second season in a row.
But on Sunday, Tracy and a Red Sox team initially deemed rudderless in the middle of the summer didn’t want to look too far ahead.
After such a roller-coaster ride of a season, a little champagne was warranted.
“When you work as hard as we have worked, it was almost July, and to fight as hard as we did, to put ourselves in the position we did, I don’t think you care much how it gets done,” Tracy, who took the reins of the Red Sox after the team fired Alex Cora in April, told MLB.com’s Ian Browne. “You just want to see your ticket get punched.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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