Sunday, September 20, 2026 — a loss on the field, a celebration in the clubhouse, and one of the great turnarounds in baseball history.
The Red Sox lost 5-1 to the Rays in St. Petersburg on Sunday. Within the hour, they were in the playoffs. Mike Yastrzemski — grandson of Carl Yastrzemski — hit a tiebreaking three-run homer for Atlanta against Houston, and the Astros’ loss clinched an American League Wild Card spot for Boston.
It was a fitting way for this season to turn: nothing about it followed the script.
A Historic Comeback
The Red Sox were 32-46 at one point. No team in history had ever lost at least 46 of its first 78 games and finished above .500 — Boston is on track to be the first.
The trouble started early. After 27 games, with the club at 10-17, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow fired manager Alex Cora and several coaches. Chad Tracy took over as interim manager on April 26.
The turnaround started with a four-game sweep of the Yankees at Fenway from June 25 to 28. A 15-game winning streak followed in July, tying the franchise record set in 1946. From June 25 to August 7, Boston went 32-5.
Breslow’s Gamble
Firing a manager as accomplished as Cora 27 games into a season was one of the boldest decisions any front office made this year. At the time, it looked like a club searching for answers. Now it looks like the moment the season changed.
Breslow also bought aggressively at the deadline, most notably adding Adley Rutschman from Baltimore, while veterans like Willson Contreras, in his first season in Boston, helped hold the clubhouse together. Contreras’ message to teammates was simple: keep believing.
Tracy credited his players for refusing to take no for an answer. Breslow said they answered their doubters resoundingly.
What Comes Next
Boston enters the postseason as the No. 5 seed and opens a best-of-three Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium on September 29. It’s a rematch of last year’s Wild Card Series, which the Yankees won in three games.
The matchup looks different this time. The Yankees just lost Aaron Judge to a calf strain, and his status for the series is uncertain.
The Winter Question
There’s one more storyline to watch. Tracy has been the interim manager since April. A playoff berth after a historic turnaround makes a strong case for removing the “interim” label — and that decision will be one of Breslow’s first of the offseason.
The Read
The Red Sox were written off in April and buried in June. On Sunday, they lost a game and clinched a playoff spot anyway. Whatever happens in the Bronx, this is a season that will be remembered in Boston for a long time.
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