How Will the Red Sox Recent Surge Affect the Second Half of the 2026 Season?
If you could say one thing about the 2026 Red Sox, it is that they almost always defy expectation. Mere weeks after looking like the most pitiful team in baseball and garnering grim second-half predictions from snarky writers, the Bostonians look like one of the best squads in the game. They have now gotten four players elected to the all-star team and have inched as close as two and a half games from a Wild Card berth. Throw out the rule book, the codes of conduct for teams that look hopeless in March, April, and May. What comes next?
For starters, it means that some of the Sox targets of scrutiny can breathe a little easier. Shockingly, Craig Breslow comes to mind as a man whose job is a little safer than it was a month ago. His offseason bets have started to really pay off. New signees Caleb Durbin and Willson Contreras are smashing the baseball, and the rotation looks to be one of the best in the American League. Interim manager Chad Tracy also must count himself lucky; his brief tenure is looking better by the day. On the flip side, this success will likely affect trade deadline strategy. If the Beantown franchise might have been looking to sell, it now seems more likely to hold or even try to buy, though there is not much on the market currently worth investing in.
If this is coming across as scattered, it’s because newfound victory is a destabilizing force. 2026 was all set to be a wash, with the New Englanders firmly seated as AL East bottom dwellers. However, baseball is a funny game, with an impossibly long, endlessly confusing season. It could all fall apart again, too. The bats could quiet, the arms could disappoint. By September, the nine-time World Series champs might be far, far away from the postseason. Fans again could be shaking their heads, disappointed in themselves for “falling for it”.
I won’t be among that group, though. I’d argue falling for it is the point. Short of winning a championship, which almost all of the sport doesn’t experience in a given year, baseball is about showing up. The Red Sox have proven, through undeniable struggle, that they can and will continue to show up. It’s true of life, too, that showing up is the key. That the belief that better things are on the horizon, for your team, for your neighbor, for yourself, is why it’s all worth it. So go ahead, Red Sox Nation: fall for it.
