On June 24 the Boston Red Sox were 32-46 and in last place in the American League. They had fired their manager in April. The season was finished.
They are going to the playoffs.
How They Clinched
Boston lost 5-1 to the Rays at Tropicana Field on Sunday, with Trevor Story’s solo home run accounting for the only run. The clinch came hours later when Atlanta beat Houston 4-2, eliminating Boston’s last challenger. The Red Sox celebrated in the visiting clubhouse in Tampa.
There was a nice wrinkle in the Braves game. Mike Yastrzemski, grandson of Carl Yastrzemski, hit a three-run homer, and former Red Sox pitcher Martin Perez allowed one run in 4.1 innings.
Boston sits at 84-72 with six games left, holding the second AL wild card at four games clear of the third spot and 5.5 behind the Yankees, who own the tiebreaker. As the No. 5 seed they are lined up for a best-of-three wild card series at Yankee Stadium beginning Sept. 29, a rematch of 2025.
The Run That Changed the Season
From June 25 through Aug. 7, Boston went 32-5. That is the best 30-game stretch in franchise history.
Inside it was a 15-game winning streak beginning July 3, tying a club record set by the 1946 pennant winners. A separate nine-game streak followed shortly after. Overall the Red Sox have gone 52-26 since that June 24 low point.
Per ESPN Insights, they are the fourth team in the World Series era to make the playoffs after being 14 or more games under .500.
The Manager Nobody Knew
Chad Tracy was managing Triple-A Worcester in April. Then Boston dismissed Alex Cora and five coaches on April 25 with the club at 10-17, and the 40-year-old Tracy got the interim job.
His record since taking over: 74-55.
Whatever Boston’s front office thought it was doing in April, it worked. A team that could not get out of its own way for four weeks has played at a 93-win pace for five months under a first-time major league manager.
Who Is Doing It
Willson Contreras leads the team in the categories that matter, hitting .276 with 27 home runs, 81 RBI and a .905 OPS. Wilyer Abreu has added 24 homers and 74 RBI with a .785 OPS. Ceddanne Rafaela leads the club at .282 with 70 RBI, and Jarren Duran has 20 homers and 19 steals.
On the mound, Sonny Gray leads the rotation with a 2.82 ERA and 146 strikeouts. Payton Tolle leads the staff with 166 strikeouts and has nine wins. Aroldis Chapman has 34 saves.
One Correction Worth Making
This is not the end of a drought. Boston went 89-73 in 2025 and clinched a wild card then too. This is back-to-back postseason baseball, not a return from exile.
What makes it remarkable is the route. Very few teams dig a 14-game hole below .500 in June and finish in October, and almost none of them do it while replacing their manager with a Triple-A guy in April.
Boston is going to Yankee Stadium in eight days. Nobody outside that clubhouse saw this coming in June.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.