Boston Red Sox
Do they just settle into being a normal, pretty good team?
After a disappointing start to the season, the Red Sox have given their fans plenty to celebrate. Christian Kantosky for The Boston Globe
August 11, 2026 | 7:52 AM
4 minutes to read
All right, so what happens now?
Anyone have a clear, confident idea of what the 2026 Red Sox are going to be from here?
For me — and I suspect for many of you, too — this team ranks as the most unpredictable in modern franchise history. Has been from the first pitch to the most recent one, too.
Perhaps the optimism of the spring got to me, but on March 19, I wrote that the Sox would be a team that “will pitch well, field much better than they did a year ago, and hit plenty, and the result should be a team that plays a crisp, fun style.”
They promptly began the season 1-5, and then 4-9, and then 9-17.
On the morning of June 23, they were 31-45, 14½ games behind the Yankees for first place in the American League East, and five games behind the Orioles for fourth place.
To reasonable eyes, it was a hapless, unlucky, injury-plagued, and poorly constructed team that should hold a fire sale before the trade deadline. Wrote that too, bluntly, on June 19:
“The Red Sox are not salvageable this season. And they had better not jeopardize next season by pretending otherwise in a manipulative attempt to keep Fenway Park as full as possible for as long as possible this season.”
Well, might as well do the math from when those words were written, since I’ve already swallowed those words whole.
On the morning of June 19, the Red Sox were 29-43. As of Monday morning, the Red Sox were 64-53, even after losing two straight to those Temporary Tenants of Sacramento, the Athletics.
I don’t need to get out the ol’ Texas Instruments device to know that means the Red Sox have gone 35-10 since I wrote, “This year? It’s about next year.”
That includes a 15-game winning streak with a hiatus for the All-Star Game in between, an 8-2 stretch against three AL East opponents immediately after the break, and 27 victories in 30 games overall — which would stand as a staggering and prolonged stretch of excellence for a team presumed to be a superpower, let alone one that looked like one of the worst teams in baseball for much of the season.
Red Sox players like Ceddanne Rafaela (left) and Jarren Duran have had a lot to celebrate recently. – Christian Kantosky for The Boston Globe
This team has played to such extremes that it’s a fool’s errand to gauge what they will be from here, over their final 45 games.
Fortunately for you, this fool (hello) does his errands.
I don’t believe the two straight losses to the Athletics signify a fork in the road. But it does seem, oh, logical to believe that there’s no chance that they will play anything close to .900 baseball over their next 30 games — or for that matter, over any other 30-game stretch over the next couple of dozen years, at a minimum.
What they just pulled off was beyond extraordinary, especially since the daily lineup was dotted with overachieving role players. That extreme level of heightened excellence is over — heck, until the final pair against the Athletics, the Sox hadn’t lost two in a row since June 30-July 1 defeats by the Nationals.
So again: What happens now?
Do they just settle into being a normal, pretty good team? I do believe that is the most likely outcome, though there are so many pending variables at play.
The biggest reason for their success during that 30-game gift of delightful baseball was their pitching — the starters and the back end of the bullpen, in particular. There have been some signs of wear lately with closer Aroldis Chapman and superb setup man Garrett Whitlock. And some of the starters, especially youngsters Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett, have workload concerns, at least by modern standards.
It’s going to be interesting to see how interim manager Chad Tracy and pitching coach Andrew Bailey navigate the various requirements and parameters. Anything they can get from Garrett Crochet in any role is welcome, but that cannot be counted on just yet.
The lineup is in a fascinating spot, with more established reinforcements on the way to compete with or replace lesser-known players who in some cases outperformed them.
Shortstop is fascinating — does veteran Trevor Story, whose let-it-rip approach and just-adequate defense does not jibe with how the Red Sox played in his long absence, get his job back? Does Andruw Monasterio, who has been raking at the plate and fielding like he’s thinking about his next at-bat, remain in a regular role? Or does top prospect Franklin Arias, the best defensive option and a tantalizing wild card at the plate, get the call, a la Xander Bogaerts in 2013? I vote Arias.
Trevor Story has struggled occasionally in the field and consistently at the plate. – Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
The welcome and necessary trade-deadline acquisition of catcher Adley Rutschman and his assortment of Varitek-like qualities gives the Red Sox a competent-to-above-average player at just about every position.
Roman Anthony — who takes too much grief for a bizarre injury — is finally making progress, and the talent remains worthy of belief, even with his rough start to the season.
Yes, they still have a lot of questions. I do think, come October, we will like the answers.
Hey, I’m bound to be right about these guys at some point in this zany season.
Chad Finn
Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.
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