BOSTON (WHDH) – It’s been quite the turnaround for the Boston Red Sox in 2026 – from chants of “sell the team” echoing through Fenway Park in the Spring, to the team popping champagne in celebration of clinching a spot in the postseason Sunday night.
The Red Sox clinched a postseason berth for the second year in a row, becoming just the fourth team in MLB history to qualify for the playoffs after being 14 or more games under .500. On June 24, the Red Sox fell to their lowest point of 32-46, but the team carried out an impropable turnaround to assert themselves as one of the top teams in the American League by September.
“You stared the impossible in the face with the position we were in, and you beat it back, and you said the Hell with that, and we’re going to go to the playoffs, and you did it!” Red Sox Interim Manager Chad Tracy said in his address to the team, before popping champagne in celebration.
Unlike 2025, it was not a “win and get in” clinching scenario this year. The Red Sox dropped Sunday’s game 5-1 to the AL East division leading Tampa Bay Rays, and clinched their postseason spot when the Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros. Despite the situation, Tracy said the team has a lot of be proud of.
“They came together and they found a way to get it done, you know? They had a long way to go do it, but they found a way to get it done. Just so proud of them,” Tracy told the media.
“It’s a long season. The season wasn’t over by playing 40 or 50 games. We have to play 162 or 150-something to clinch, and I knew I had time. I knew we had time to turn it over,” said Red Sox First Baseman Willson Contreras.
While the Red Sox are proud of overcoming long odds to play October baseball, they’re also mindful the job is far from over.
“This is, you know, certainly an accomplishment. But it’s not the primary objective here. We still got a bunch of important games ahead of us,” said Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow.
“I think we can make a run. I think we got the guys, I think we can get hot. We’re going to just continue to play the way that we play and have that team baseball that we’ve been having,” said Red Sox Pitcher Payton Tolle. “I’m really excited to just be in this moment and get with these guys.”
As the playoff landscape shakes out in the last week of the regular season, Tracy said he has confidence in his team to be prepared for any situation.
“No we don’t care where we play,” he said. “You go back to July and most people didn’t even think we’d even be standing here, so it doesn’t matter where we play. We’re in. You got a ticket to the dance and now you got to go take care of it there. So it doesn’t matter.”
There remains a chance the Sox could travel to face the winner of either the AL Center or West divisions, but the most likely opponent remains their rival New York Yankees. That matchup could be set in stone by the middle of this week.
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