Seventeen years ago, Jim Tracy took over as interim manager for the Colorado Rockies and engineered one of the greatest season turnarounds in MLB history. Now, his son Chad is on an eerily similar path with the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox promoted Chad Tracy to interim manager after firing longtime skipper Alex Cora on April 25. On May 29, 2009, Jim Tracy earned the interim tag after the Rockies fired Clint Hurdle. Boston had a 10-17 record at the time of Cora’s firing, while Colorado was 18-28 when Hurdle was canned.
The ’09 Rockies went 12 games under .500 (20-32) before winning 17 of 18 games in June. This year’s Sox were 14 games under .500 (32-46) before winning 19 of their next 21, including an ongoing 14-game win streak that’s one win shy of the franchise record.
After his club’s 14th consecutive victory on Monday night, Chad Tracy was asked if he has spoken to his father about the similarities between the two “Tracy Turnarounds.”
“I remember the (2009 Rockies) run,” he said. “You know, we talk very basically about just, he’s excited. He’s a baseball fan. He’s watching constantly, and he’s fired up for it. So, like, we haven’t done a whole lot of comparing to that, but he’s just — he’s a Boston Red Sox fan. He’s fired up watching it.”
Chad Tracy’s connection to his father’s ’09 Rockies gets even weirder. The Red Sox were in Colorado 17 years to the day after the Rockies’ 17-1 stretch ended (June 22). Boston lost two of three to Colorado before sparking their incredible turnaround with a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees.
Jim Tracy’s Rockies finished their regular season with a 92-70 record, clinching a playoff spot as a National League Wild Card team. They fell to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS, but Jim Tracy became the second interim manager in MLB history to win the Manager of the Year award. He and Jack McKeon (2003 Marlins) remain the only interim managers ever to earn the honor.
FanGraphs gave the Chad Tracy-led Sox just a 9.4 percent chance of making the postseason on June 24. As of Tuesday, that number has skyrocketed to 75.7 percent. If Boston sustains its success and looks like a real contender come October, Chad Tracy should be firmly in the American League Manager of the Year conversation.
The Red Sox will look to win their 15th straight game Tuesday night vs. Baltimore, tying the 1946 club for the longest win streak in the franchise’s 125-year history.
