Are the Red Sox's struggles more about roster construction or execution?

Make no mistake about it: this season has been a complete and utter disaster for the Red Sox.

Entering Thursday afternoon’s game against the Blue Jays, Boston was one of just two teams yet to reach 30 wins, joining the Colorado Rockies, who won just 43 games a season ago.

Nobody has scored fewer runs than the Red Sox (279), and no team has a worse home record. At Fenway Park, Boston has twice as many losses (24) as wins (12).

They are 13 games under .500 for the first time in a full season since 2015.

You can go on and on about the bleak numbers that tell the woeful story of the 2026 Red Sox.

But how did they get here? Is it possible a roster built on pitching and defense — a formula that runs counter to virtually every recent contender — never really had much of a chance? Or is it simply an execution issue?

Interim manager Chad Tracy joined WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Thursday and pointed to the latter.

“We’re in a lot of games. We’re in almost every game. So, when you look at it, now, you’re not going to execute every single time; it’s the nature of playing a baseball game every single day. Sometimes you are going to fail; it’s a game of failure. But I think, when you look at, broadly, the amount of games we have been in with a chance to win late. Literally, maybe it’s a two-out base hit execution or a runner in from third or anything like that. We have put ourselves in games with an opportunity to win,” Tracy said.

“There are obvious things with us. We don’t hit for as much power, so those are all factors, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that we are going to play in close games because of that. Like, it’s going to be late and close, tight, and when you are in those games, it’s often times an at-bat or two, execution, or a two-out hit or something like that that can be the difference maker. To this point, we’ve struggled with that. It doesn’t mean we can’t get that turned and get on a heater, but we’ve got to execute in those spots.”

Whether it’s roster construction, execution, or some combination of both, the Red Sox are running out of time to figure it out.

After Wednesday’s loss, they sit 5.5 games out of a Wild Card spot with just 39 games remaining until the Aug. 3 trade deadline. With every loss, it becomes harder for Boston to avoid a sell-off.

For now, though, Tracy and the Red Sox are focused on the task at hand: climbing back into the race before the hole becomes too deep.

“We have to continue to push forward and see if we can change that narrative. That’s our job,” Tracy said. “Our job is to have a stretch of games where we play very well and make them go, ‘Whoa, we’re back to within three [games out].’ That’s our job. To try and do that.”

You can catch the full interview below.