Red Sox Week in Review: At Least We're Playoff Bound, Right?

[Alex Mayes]

Boston Red Sox Weekly Snapshot

Record Last Week: 2-4

Runs Scored Last Week: 15

Runs Surrendered Last Week: 23

Standings

3rd in AL East

2nd in AL Wild Card

Transactions

09/15/26: Boston Red Sox sent RHP Tanner Houck on a rehab assignment to Worcester Red Sox.

09/17/26: Boston Red Sox sent RHP Johan Oviedo on a rehab assignment to Worcester Red Sox.

09/20/26: Boston Red Sox optioned RHP Wyatt Olds to Worcester Red Sox.

09/20/26: Boston Red Sox activated RHP Tyron Guerrero from the 15-day injured list.

Scores

Game 147: BOS 2, TEX 4

Game 148: BOS 3, TEX 7

Game 150: BOS 4, TEX 3

Game 151: BOS 4, TB 2

Game 152: BOS 1, TB 2

Game 153: BOS 1, TB 5

Series Breakdown/Highlights

Rangers Series: It’s safe to say that the Red Sox may end up limping into the postseason with the way they’ve played baseball over the last week. In game one in Texas, we saw Patrick Sandoval once again be unable to provide any real shot at staying in the contest from the first inning. He only tossed 2.2 innings while allowing four hits and four earned runs while walking two and striking out five. Due to his short start, Chad Tracy relied on Brayan Bello, Alec Gamboa, Wyatt Olds, and Jovani Moran to all spend precious bullets in an effort to keep the game from getting further out of hand, which they were successful at. Offensively, Nick Sogard hit a two-run home run for the only spark of the night. 

Game two was pretty much more of the same unfortunately. Willson Contreras launched a two-run home run but, once again, that was the only offense the team could muster. Jake Bennett was looking to rebound from his last outing and mostly accomplished that feat. He tossed 4.2 innings of three-run baseball while striking out seven. Greg Weissert, Erik Miller, and Raymond Burgos came on in relief. Miller specifically, continued to struggle by allowing three earned runs.

Game three was a turnaround for the Red Sox, finally stopping the skid for a bit. Most notably on offense, Roman Anthony continued to heat up at the plate and that’s something the team is going to need in the worst way as we enter the last week of the season. Trevor Story contributed the winning home run on the day. Defensively, Sonny Gray looked a lot more like his usual self again. He threw 6.1 innings of three-run baseball while striking out six on the day. Olds, Gamboa, and Garrett Whitlock all worked in relief to put the game away.

Rays Series: Game one was Anthony’s true late-season breakout, going two-for-five with one home run and three RBIs. Jahmai Jones added another home run for good measure to give the Red Sox a late-inning lead. Ranger Suarez hit a career high in walks with five, but also struck out five over 5.2 innings. Olds, Weissert, and Miller all worked in relief with Miller still looking shaky. 

The pendulum swung back the other way for game two, though. Brayan Bello pitched a great game as the starter, going eight strong innings while only allowing one run and striking out 11. Whitlock is technically charged with the loss in this game, but if you watched it you know that baserunning mistakes by Caleb Durbin and Connor Wong’s inability to play passable defense behind the plate really lost the game for the Sox. Offensively, Anthony had the lone RBI for the Sox on the night.

Finally, in game three, we had Sandoval take the rubber again and promptly forget that the Red Sox were in the midst of a playoff push. Tracy left him out there to wear it though, having the southpaw toss seven innings while giving up five earned runs and striking out five. Recently activated Tyron Guerrero came in in relief to get some work in before the conclusion of the season. Offensively, Story provided a late inning home run to keep the Sox from being shut out.

The good news? The Red Sox officially clinched their spot in the playoffs on Sunday once the Astros lost to the Braves, removing some pressure ahead of the final week of the regular season.

Website Highlights

Red Sox’s Offense is Collapsing in Clutch Situations at the Worst Possible Time by Yirsandy Rodriguez

Red Sox Playoff Scenarios: Two Vastly Different Paths to the World Series by Alex Mayes

Roman Anthony is Agonizingly Close to Breaking Out of His Slump by Billy Heyen

Jarren Duran Can be Fixed, but the Red Sox Are Running Out of Time by N.B. Lindberg

Looking Ahead

09/21/26: Off Day

09/22/26: Guardians (Parker Messick) @ Red Sox (Payton Tolle): 6:45 PM EDT

09/23/26: Guardians (Foster Griffin) @ Red Sox (Sonny Gray): 7:10 PM EDT

09/24/26: Guardians (TBD) @ Red Sox (Ranger Suarez): 6:45 PM EDT

09/25/26: Cubs @ Red Sox: 7:10 PM EDT

09/26/26: Cubs @ Red Sox: 7:15 PM EDT

09/27/26: Cubs @ Red Sox: 3:05 PM EDT

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[Jayinjax]

Why not give Tanner Houck 2 or 3 innings against the Cubs this week. Maybe in a combo with Bello but please give Sandoval a vacation. And wouldn't it be cool to bring up Arias as a backup in place of Monasterio or kiner falefa?

[Alex Mayes]

41 minutes ago, Jayinjax said:

Why not give Tanner Houck 2 or 3 innings against the Cubs this week. Maybe in a combo with Bello but please give Sandoval a vacation. And wouldn't it be cool to bring up Arias as a backup in place of Monasterio or kiner falefa?

I assume Houck gets activated at some point this week as well. He's looked good in his rehab outings so they'll want to get him on the bump against major leaguers at least once before the postseason.

As much as I want Arias playing meaningful innings with this team, it's not going to happen. The earliest he'll be on the 26-man roster is the start of next season. At this point, you don't take away his development time during the lockout just for a bench role in the playoffs. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, Jayinjax said:

Why not give Tanner Houck 2 or 3 innings against the Cubs this week. Maybe in a combo with Bello but please give Sandoval a vacation. And wouldn't it be cool to bring up Arias as a backup in place of Monasterio or kiner falefa?

I'd actually like to see Monasterio get regular at bats the last week to see if he can get hot again and force his way onto the playoff roster. 

My thinking is thus: as much as anyone can cite team stats to show just how this Red Sox offense compares to other contenders, we all know that hitting will be at a premium vs. the mighty NY pitching.

Don't forget July -- the greatest month in the history of the franchise -- when Boston went 21-4... Monasterio was the starting SS with a 338 BA, 1.044 OPS.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Jayinjax said:

Why not give Tanner Houck 2 or 3 innings against the Cubs this week. Maybe in a combo with Bello but please give Sandoval a vacation. And wouldn't it be cool to bring up Arias as a backup in place of Monasterio or kiner falefa?

The only way Arias was going to come up was if Story didn't come back heathy or was a trainwreck. He's been good enough. We'll see Arias in 2027 and that's right on schedule. 

[Nick]

Kudos to the team for making the playoffs. But

Even with the addition of Tolle as a bona fide starting pitcher....we're missing our big arm, Crochet. 

I'd feel pretty confident with the team's playoff outlook sending out Crochet, Gray, Tolle and Suarez.

Not having that #1 is a big loss. You definitely can't have enough good pitching.

 

[mvp 78]

Crochet '25: 11.18 k/9, 2.02 bb/9, 1.03 WHIP, 2.59 ERA, 2.89 FIP

Tolle '26: 10.45 k/9, 2.39 bb/9, 1.07 WHIP, 3.02 ERA, 3.04 FIP

Tolle is a stepdown from Crochet, but even a healthy Crochet would have probably seen the numbers backup a bit. 

[Nick]

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Crochet '25: 11.18 k/9, 2.02 bb/9, 1.03 WHIP, 2.59 ERA, 2.89 FIP

Tolle '26: 10.45 k/9, 2.39 bb/9, 1.07 WHIP, 3.02 ERA, 3.04 FIP

Tolle is a stepdown from Crochet, but even a healthy Crochet would have probably seen the numbers backup a bit. 

Thanks, that puts it in perspective for sure. To think that Tolle was ticketed early for minors during spring training.

[mvp 78]

24 minutes ago, Nick said:

Thanks, that puts it in perspective for sure. To think that Tolle was ticketed early for minors during spring training.

He still hasn't added a great secondary pitch to go against RHB and relies heavily on his 4 seamer against them (49%). He did add a sinker that he throws more than anything else against LHB. He really didn't have much control last season, but I guess he went to the Connor Wong School of Just Throw Strikes this offseason.