The Boston Red Sox are working their way back into the playoff conversation with one week until the MLB All-Star break.
After a disastrous start to the season, the Red Sox gained ground in the American League Wild Card race with a late-June four-game sweep of the New York Yankees. They went on to lose two of three to the Washington Nationals, but their three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels over Fourth of July weekend has helped to keep their postseason hopes alive.
As of Monday, Boston is four games back of the third AL Wild Card spot with a 40-48 record. It’s the hottest team in the AL with eight wins in its last 10 games.
Six AL clubs — the Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, and Athletics — currently stand between the Red Sox and the third Wild Card. Boston has the best run differential (+5) of the bunch.
According to FanGraphs, the Red Sox entered Monday with a 19.9 percent chance to make the playoffs. Before the Yankees series on June 24, their odds were down to 9.4 percent after dropping two of three to the lowly Colorado Rockies.
They will wrap up their first half of the 2026 season with a six-game road trip — three games against the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox and three against the last-place New York Mets. If they enter the All-Star break with momentum, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will have a difficult decision to make: buy or sell?
If the wins continue to pile up over the next week, there will be a legitimate argument for investing in this year’s club with the AL seemingly up for grabs. It’d be a miraculous turnaround, but a second-half comeback for Boston isn’t totally out of the realm of possibility.
Selling before the Aug. 3 trade deadline still seems like the most probable outcome. If Breslow goes that route, closer Aroldis Chapman and veteran starter Sonny Gray are among the most likely candidates to be moved.
Boston’s three-game set against the White Sox begins Tuesday at 7:40 p.m. ET.
