Craig Breslow said before the Red Sox threw a pitch in their series against the Yankees that his team needed to run its own race. That’s all well and good until some other teams decide that this is no longer the kind of walk-and-jog 2026 has represented up and down the American League.
Case in point: The Red Sox’s 6-1 loss to the Yanks, Sunday afternoon.
For the majority of the contest, the Sox were playing at their pace, with Ranger Suarez holding New York to a single run, which allowed for a 1-1 deadlock right up into the eighth inning. But then the Yankees decided to air things out a bit, exploding for a five-run eighth inning that was keyed by Cody Bellinger’s solo homer against Justin Slaten.
Good, not quite good enough. Promising until it wasn’t. Welcome to the Red Sox’s world.
"It’s still a good baseball game," Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters after the loss. "You maybe feel that way if you feel like you went out and laid an egg, but you played a really good baseball game, and they get [five runs] in the bottom of the eighth, but, no, I don't think it feels that way. In our position, we’re going to get on a plane, get to Tampa, and try to win a series, and say it's a good road trip against a tough AL East stretch. That’s how you have to look at it. So that’s what we’ll do."
Where it has left Breslow’s crew is with one of the more confusing existences in baseball.
The Red Sox undeniably have postseason-caliber pitching and defense. There have been signs up and down the lineup that more offensive output will become a regular occurrence. And they still only reside four games out of a Wild Card spot with the prospects of still getting Romy Gonzalez and perhaps Roman Anthony back before the end of this month.
But time is ticking.
Because of the American League's unbelievable mediocrity, on display over the last 10 games with seven AL teams going 5-5, perhaps the Red Sox think they can wait. It's an approach they have hung their hat on ever since the purging of Alex Cora and half the coaching staff in April, insisting that the projections baked into this roster should be good enough.
The reality is, however, that real roster decisions won't be able to afford such patience. The Red Sox are going to have to start figuring out if the likes of Aroldis Chapman and Sonny Gray are worth keeping around to see if a run can be had. Is it still the proper move to allocate some prospect capital to perhaps push this offense to more palatable levels?
According to a major league source, teams in need of high-leverage bullpen arms have been told not to currently bother asking for Justin Slaten, Garrett Whitlock, and Chapman. That would suggest the Red Sox still understand the opportunity that presents itself.
But what if this roller coaster trend continues all the way into July? As much as folks might want to point to the dribs and drabs of optimism, such as what was revealed in Friday night's win over the Yankees, this is a Red Sox team that, since returning home on May 7 after sweeping Detroit, has gone 11-15. During that stretch, the Sox have had two winning streaks, one of three games and the other courtesy of back-to-back victories over Cleveland.
The Red Sox were in a similar spot record-wise at this time last season, heading into May 7 with a 30-35 record. Then they won 10 of 12. Then, after a brief post-Rafael Devers trade hiccup, the Sox ran off a stretch of 13 victories in 15 games.
It can happen. But will it? With this group, it currently seems like a trickier proposition.
So far, the likely scenario appears to be the one predicted by those comparing the 2025 Rangers and 2026 Red Sox. That Texas team led the American League in pitching by a wide margin, but still landed at 81-81 thanks to a less-than-inspiring offense. Coincidentally, or not, that Rangers club shared the same existence at their home park as these Red Sox, finishing with the worst home batting average and OPS in baseball.
There have been a lot of I-told-you-so's thanks to that Texas lesson. Now it will be up to the Red Sox to see if they can learn from the pitfalls of solely basking in this run prevention way of life.
The thought was that by the time the Red Sox landed in Denver to play the Rockies on June 22 they would have identified their true existence. The run of good teams and solid pitching staffs would have been put in the rearview mirror, and Breslow would be able to truly lock in on whether or not this team was worth investing in.
The first leg - Atlanta, Cleveland, Baltimore and New York - hasn't allowed for much more definition, with the Sox going 5-6. Now comes a struggling first-place Tampa Bay club, which is 3-10 over the past couple of weeks, followed by three teams - Texas, Toronto and Seattle - all of whom are seemingly starting to hit their stride a bit.
The Red Sox don't have to get desperate, but they do have to get real. The fork in the road is creeping up on them. It's getting to be about that time the Red Sox are going to start signing up for which race they want to run.
