Alex Mayes

The Boston Red Sox are all but guaranteed to make the postseason in 2026. Technically, there’s a path to where they could be eliminated from postseason contention, but here at Talk Sox, we like to believe in this team (and statistical odds). For all intents and purposes, we're going to see this squad in the playoffs. There are really two direct paths for the team to take to be able to play meaningful baseball in October. First, we have the path they are currently on: they continue to hold the second Wild Card position and return to New York to face the Yankees in a best-of-three Wild Card round. There, the hope will be that Sonny Gray, Payton Tolle, and Ranger Suarez can pitch well enough to keep the ball on the ground and not over the short porch in right field, while the offense has to find a way to score at least a few runs per game against Cy Young hopeful Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole, and Carlos Rodon. That’s a tall task, but one the Red Sox likely won't shy away from. The moment that the Red Sox put the pedal to the floor during the summer came when they went into Yankee Stadium and promptly swept the Bronx Bombers. The teams that will meet at the end of September will be different—Aaron Judge has returned for the Yankees and there’s still a bit of uncertainty around Ceddanne Rafaela’s return timeline—but the Red Sox have to feel good about going back to New York for a shot at redeeming last year’s quick exit. Winning the Wild Card series would put the Red Sox facing the Rays in the American League Divisional Series, and then onto face either the Guardians, White Sox, or Astros in the Championship Series. Having to string together back-to-back series wins against AL East rivals will be difficult, but not insurmountable. The other path requires a bit of creativity, but it isn’t out of left field. I’ll start by saying that if the team is doing this (and with how they’ve played against the Rangers this week it’s certainly possible) they can’t admit it. The easiest path to the World Series, ironically, means tanking the end of the season to slide to the sixth seed in the playoffs. As of this writing, that would force the White Sox into playing the Yankees and the Red Sox would matchup against the Astros. While it wouldn’t be fair to say the Yankees should win the first two games of the Wild Card round against the White Sox, it’s a safe assumption. That would make the Yankees and Rays duke it out in the ALDS while the Red Sox meet up with the Guardians just a couple of weeks after they met at the end of the regular season. While the final series against Cleveland has yet to be played, the Red Sox currently lead the season series 2-1 and they have mostly dominated the AL Central all season. This would also save the juggernaut matchup with either the Yankees or Rays for the ALCS, when it would become must-see-TV, while sidestepping having to play both clubs en route to the World Series. Now, is it ethically dubious to "tank" for better playoff seeding, especially when you haven't already locked up a spot in the Big Dance? Absolutely. It behooves the Red Sox to win as much as possible down the stretch, knowing that they'd be walking into a very difficult path to make it to the Fall Classic. It's better to have some chance than no chance at all. But whether it comes via the No. 5 or No. 6 seed, the point is that the Red Sox control their own destiny as we approach the final week of the regular season. Right now, all paths lead to October. It’s up to the starting nine on the field to determine which path they are going to take. View full article

Boston Red Sox Weekly Snapshot Record Last Week: 3-3 Runs Scored Last Week: 21 Runs Surrendered Last Week: 19 Standings 3rd in AL East 8.5 GB First Place 2nd in AL Wild Card 4.5 GB First Place Transactions 09/08/26: Boston Red Sox sent RHP Tanner Houck on a rehab assignment to Portland Sea Dogs. 09/11/26: Boston Red Sox recalled 2B Anthony Seigler from Worcester Red Sox. 09/11/26: Boston Red Sox placed CF Eli White on the 10-day injured list retroactive to September 9, 2026. Right foot ligament injury. 09/11/26: Boston Red Sox sent 1B Willson Contreras on a rehab assignment to Portland Sea Dogs. 09/13/26: Boston Red Sox placed 2B Anthony Seigler on the 10-day injured list. Right wrist inflammation 09/13/26: Boston Red Sox activated 1B Willson Contreras from the 10-day injured list. Scores Game 141: BOS 5, LAA 2 Game 142: BOS 1, LAA 6 Game 143: BOS 4, LAA 6 Game 144: BOS 2, KC 3 Game 145: BOS 5, KC 1 Game 146: BOS , KC Series Breakdown/Highlights Angels Series: I’ve said on the Talk Sox Podcast that the Red Sox typically play up or down to their competition. That was more than evident in the series against the Angels. The Sox took game one, but it wasn’t the prettiest of games. Brayan Bello was given his first start in months and performed quite well. He tossed five innings of zero-run, four-hit, two-walk, and seven-strikeout baseball. He was followed up in relief by Wyatt Olds, Alex Gamboa, and Garrett Whitlock. The relievers combined for eight strikeouts on the night. On offense, Adley Rutschman knocked a three0run home run while Jarren Duran provided a solo blast. Eli White contributed the other RBI on the night. Game two was pretty ugly if we’re being honest. The Sox ran into one of the best starters in the American League in Reid Detmers and couldn’t do much with the bats against him. The lone RBI came off the bat of Nick Sogard. Wilyer Abreu and Trevor Story added the only other hits for the Sox on the night. Defensively, Patrick Sandoval was forced to stay in the game for six innings of four-run baseball. He struck out seven and only walked two, but the writing seems to be on the wall for the southpaw as the postseason rapidly approaches. The final game of the series saw Jake Bennett turn in his worst performance of the season. He tossed 5.1 innings, allowed six earned runs (including three home runs), while walking one and only striking out two. He was followed up by Olds, Jovani Moran, and Gamboa, but the offense couldn’t quite get the Sox back into the game. Roman Anthony and Abreu both homered while newly recalled Nate Eaton contributed the other RBI on the night. Royals Series: The series against the Royals started out in similar fashion to the ending of the Angels series. Sonny Gray turned in a quality start, tossing six innings of three-run baseball, but the bats couldn’t get the Sox in the lead down the stretch. Erik Miller, Greg Weissert, and Moran shut the door on the game. The Goateed Menace Mickey Gasper contributed a home run while Abreu drove in the other run. Game two was a different story. Ranger Suarez turned in his second long outing in a row, tossing seven innings while striking out eight and only allowing one earned run on a home run. Arguably more impressive, we saw Whitlock turn in his best outing this season with three strikeouts in the eighth inning and Aroldis Chapman came in to slam the door shut. There was no long ball for the Sox this game, but Abreu, Rutschman, Sogard, and a thawing Caleb Durbin all drove in runs in the victory. Game three saw Willson Contreras return to the lineup after playing two rehab games with the Sea Dogs to get his feet back under him. The story of the game was the first inning, though. Therein, rookie Payton Tolle tossed the first immaculate inning for the Red Sox since 2021. He finished his outing at six innings while allowing zero earned runs, four hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts. Miller, Whitlock, Weissert, and Chapman closed the game out with Miller allowing one earned run on the day. Offensively, Durbin socked a home run to the top of the Green Monster and showed signs that he’s heating back up for a second straight game. Anthony started to come alive this series and helped secure the win with a late inning RBI while Trevor Story drove in two as well to help put the Sox in the win column and secure the series victory. Website Highlights Connor Wong has Runs His Course in Boston by Alex Mayes How Brayan Bello Found a Way to Make His Arsenal Work Again by Yirsandy Rodriguez Emulating Nico Hoerner May be Nick Sogard’s Best Path Forward by Maddie Landis Looking Ahead 09/14/26: Off Day 09/15/26: Red Sox (Patrick Sandoval) @ Rangers (TBD): 8:05 PM EDT 09/16/26: Red Sox (Jake Bennett) @ Rangers (TBD): 8:05 PM EDT 09/17/26: Red Sox (Sonny Gray) @ Rangers (TBD): 8:05 PM EDT 09/18/26: Red Sox @ Rays: 7:10 PM EDT 09/19/26: Red Sox @ Rays: 4:10 PM EDT 09/20/26: Red Sox @ Rays: 1:40 PM EDT View full article

Yep. Learn to throw to your starting catcher as you prepare for the postseason, and that's Adley. If everything goes well, the backup catcher won't get off the bench at any point during the postseason.

Wong and Gasper have very similar defensive numbers and they are both bad. If Wong is starting any playoff games over Adley, Tracy should be fired on the spot. Wong has 162 plate appearances against RHP this season, 67 against LHP.

I forgot about Allen. What a guy.

This is also quality content. You've earned my second MVP vote.

Criticism isn't fair game? Wong, for all intents and purposes, stinks and it's fair to call that out. Sure, he may be on the roster come the postseason, but he may not. It's very telling that Gasper was behind the dish in the final game of the Angels series. Tracy can say it's because he's familiar with Bennett from catching him with the WooSox but Bennett never threw to Mickey while both were with the WooSox from what I can quickly see and Wong had caught all of Bennett's big league starts except this most recent one. I could be wrong on those numbers, I was skimming pretty quickly, but to me that indicates that Tracy doesn't have the belief in Wong anymore.

mvp is the real MVP

With an off day coming up and Adley expected to play on Friday? I doubt it. If he can't catch two days in a row then there's a much different conversation that needs to happen surrounding him. Before two nights ago he last caught on the 5th, he should have been plenty rested to catch back-to-back games if the staff believed he was the right guy to be out there.

I think the message that not just fans, but likely the managerial staff of the team, has lost confidence in Wong when Gasper started at catcher last night instead of him.

Admittedly, as you know from listening to the podcast, I'm not as in with those stats as I should be. If those numbers support Wong, that's a valid reason to keep him around. I'm going to dig more into this side of things.

Well said. There's a nuance you have to keep in mind when dealing with switch hitters for sure.

Done. Been working on a 'who in recent Red Sox memory does Duran comp to' piece and it's not good.