Before we begin looking ahead to 2027, OTM is looking back at 2026, highlighting some of the biggest, strangest, and most memorable moments of a memorable season. Today, we look back at the belated season debut of a new rotation mainstay.
So much was made of Brayan Bello’s redemption arc — a spring demotion to Triple-A followed by a subsequent rebirth as a dominant bulk reliever — that many (including this writer) briefly forget that an even better starter actually began 2026 in Triple-A.
The 2026 Red Sox roster was notable for how awesome the rotation looked in March. It was rife with the presence of a recent Cy Young runner-up in Garrett Crochet, Bello, who was fresh off the World Baseball Classic, Ranger Suarez, who was an exciting addition to the top of the rotation from Philadelphia, another addition in Sonny Gray, and Connelly Early, who looked amazing even in defeat in 2025’s Wild Card Round at Yankee Stadium. That, of course, left a couple guys on the outside looking in, including Payton Tolle, who himself pitched in the waning moments of last season.
If there was any internal competition between the two young guns, it was manufactured if it existed at all. The duo took pictures together, were inseparable on broadcasts, and had nothing but praise for each other. Tolle, a towering lefty just like his newfound best friend and rotation-mate Early, had his four-seam fastball in spades. He also had one of the best call-up videos I have ever seen prior to his first start against eventual NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes on August 29 (featuring a WooSox manager he surely would never see again, right?)
While Tolle had his fastball, though, he lost ground to Early in the early going of each’s career with the amount of times he was taken over an outfield wall; 5 in 18 innings, to be exact, in comparison to Early avoiding that feat in his 19 innings. That was probably the defining factor in the decision to give Early his first Opening Day roster nod in what will, in all likelihood, become a successful career… in Washington, amongst other places, as Tolle, after a 2026 campaign that saw him notch 171 strikeouts and pitch to an ERA just a hair over 3, is a lock to capture his first Opening Day slot in 2027. So how did we get here? We can look at April 23 at Yankee Stadium as a pivotal point.
The Red Sox had just gotten a good 3 2/3 innings in relief out of Eduardo Rivera, who had never pitched higher than Double-A in his short professional career. Garrett Crochet was, to put it bluntly, not pitching well, but it would not be revealed until later in the week that he was actually dealing with shoulder inflammation that would place him on the Injured List for the remainder of the season. Thus, Alex Cora needed a starter for the third game at Yankee Stadium on Friday night on Apple TV, and who better than a guy who was mowing them down in Worcester to face Cam Schlittler?
The game started out as a duel. Tolle looked every bit up to the challenge. After three consecutive balls in the exact same spot to Amed Rosario, Tolle came back in the count. K. He then sat Aaron Judge down on four pitches. And that fastball would bite Ben Rice, clocking in at 98. He’d then get Giancarlo Stanton and Randal Grichuk. Five hitters, five strikeouts. Tolle was back, and he was here to stay. In fact, he’d not allow a baserunner until the fourth inning.
All told, Tolle would wrap up his night confidently, even with allowing a home run to Jazz Chisholm. His 3 up, 3 down in the sixth including two strikeouts, number 10 and number 11 on the night, finished his outing. It would be the most strikeouts a Red Sox pitcher had on the season until Sonny Gray tied it in Colorado two months later; Tolle would eventually have the title on the team with 14 against the Athletics. Sadly, Alex Cora made a few managing mishaps that would define the beginning of the 2026 season and would do him in. The signature tells were both in effect here, but one was no fault of his: the offense wouldn’t really support the good start out of Tolle outside of a Carlos Narvaez home run, and Cora’s part in the loss was calling on Greg Weissert with inherited runners (from Danny Coulombe) when there was plenty of evidence that those inherited runners would score. And score they did – the final score: Yankees 4, Red Sox 2.
The Yankees would complete the sweep against the Red Sox, take the season series, and end the Red Sox season some months later. That was Tolle’s best night for a couple of months, and some of his tells still existed. He still allowed home runs at a higher rate than most of the other rotation. But he went deep into games and certainly struck guys out. Every team wants a pitcher that gives them a real chance to win. After July 7, the team would be on the losing end of a Tolle start just twice in the regular season. The encouraging news, even with the fifth consecutive loss at Yankees Stadium, is that, on that fateful night in the Bronx, the Red Sox’s rivals had no answer for a guy who hopefully will be a foundation of the rotation for years to come.
