2026 Red Sox/MLB Season Thread

[Vermont Green]

I see this team as a World Series contender.

I'm not really a believer at this point.  They spent 2.5 months as the worst team in the AL, and then followed that up with an incredible hot streak.  In general, that 2.5 months would usually tell us more about the true quality of the team.

If they win 60% of their games going forward, I'll change my mind.

On June 24, after losing a series to COL, Sox were on pace to win 66 games.  Then they go 19-2 (146 win pace).  Pretty clear they are not going to maintain that pace.  But even 60% of their games would be 97 win pace, getting them to about 88 wins for the season.  They may not win that many in the end, but it is clearly within reach.  They have the pitching to continue to win games.

I guess it depends on how you define a world series contender.  To me, that means they have a realistic chance to get to the World Series, not that they necessarily are the favorites or that it is highly likely.  They may not even make the playoffs, but at this point, that feels likely enough.  And in any AL playoff series, they will likely have the best pitching.  Do you really think Tampa or Cleveland or Seattle are any better?  The Yankees, sure, if they get healthy deserve to be the favorite, but they are no lock.

[ozgod]

Amazing come behind win by the now never say die Red Sox with a great swing by Caleb Durbin to put it into the monster seats and put the Red Sox up for good 6?5 bottom of the 8th. And Aroldis Chapman put one on base in the ninth, but struck everyone else out.

I think you might be misremembering Chapman's night, but he got through.

It's wild that they're one away from matching their team record win streak.  The odds of that at the beginning of the streak were around 0.00038%.

Actually I stepped away for a minute and didn't realize he put 2 people on base and was a bit dodgy but ya he did make it through 

[Silas]

They did it again this afternoon with another win against the Os...6-3.  The Sox have now won 15 in a row and tied the franchise record set in 1946.  These guys are amazing.

[Vermont Green]

And they just missed the rain.  Everything going right for the Sox about now.

Tough match up for the night game, Eduardo Rivera pitching.  Ranger Suarez didn't get activated after all.  I am guessing that Bello follows Rivera after a few innings.  Whitlock, Slaten, and Chapman already pitched.  We'll see how that goes.  But hey, gotta believe I guess.

[Silas]

So far this season....

Caleb Durbin - .699 OPS, 10 HRS, 42 RBI, 11 SB, 305 AB, 2.4 WAR
Alex Bregman- .699 OPS, 10HRS, 43 RBI,  2 SB, 390 AB, 2.4 WAR

[Phantom255x]

Sucks to have lost, but sweeping doubleheaders is hard. A 15-game winning streak and going 20-3 in the last 23 games is super impressive. Got back in the playoff race in the past month and are probably one of the better teams in the AL when you look at their pitching.

[trickybilly]

Buy Buy Buy!!!!

[Silas]

As they say, you can't win them all, although I was hoping.

[Goldstar88]

I am not sure what the Sox would have to give up to get a power bat at the deadline, but Early, Tolle, and Bennett should be untouchable at this point. Those guys plus Crochet are the future.

[Vermont Green]

The Sox accomplished this feat largely with the following pitchers either injured or demoted, I think that is an underappreciated aspect of this:

Crochet
Ovieto
Suarez
Early
Bello*

On the hitting, the Sox OPS the last 30 days is 0.759.  For the season it is 0.707.  Sure, they have been hitting better (Yoshida, Durbin in particular), but this is not making the difference between 32-46 and 19-3.  There is some element of chance or luck in this.  It is how baseball works.  Some balls are hit hard right at someone, some find their way to hits.  And sometimes the hits happen with men on base, sometimes with 2 outs and nobody on.  This applies to the Sox and the other team. 

Nearly everything went right for 21 games.  A statistical abnormality or outlier.  The team did play better, but not this much better.  The team is not as bad as they seemed at the start and of course, not 21-3 good either.  Probably more like 90 win good or better, at least with Crochet healthy.

I think it is good they have the day off today.  They can catch their breath, regroup a little.  They now have 61 games to determine what kind of team this really is.  Back to the grind.