The Red Sox spent the first few months of 2026 looking nothing like the team plenty of people expected after a busy offseason. Boston sat in last place, the offense stumbled through one ugly night after another, and the whole thing made the winter plan look shaky at best.
Now the mood has flipped. The Red Sox have won 15 of their last 17 games, ripped off 10 straight to finish the first half and open the second, and pushed themselves right into the Wild Card race. That run has done more than change the standings - it has started to change the conversation around chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, too.
A lot had to click for Boston to get here. The pitching staff has been stacking quality starts, and the lineup has finally found some life.
Caleb Durbin, Tsung-Che Cheng and Anthony Seigler have delivered offensive bursts, while Willson Contreras and Ceddanne Rafaela have kept producing. For a team that spent so long waiting for the bats to wake up, that combination has been enough to turn the season around.
It has also given Breslow something he badly needed: evidence that the roster he built can work.
That shift is showing up in the way some members of the Boston media are talking about him now. Chad Finn wrote in The Boston Globe (subscription required), "Breslow was underqualified for the job when he got it, and we should have expected a learning curve, not that such a thing is allowed in this market.
Maybe he is the right person for the job after all," while Justin Leger of NBC Sports Boston said, " Breslow deserves praise for staying patient and sticking to his guns. And although his 'run prevention' roster-building strategy was scrutinized amid the offense's struggles, it has finally paid dividends, getting the club back into playoff contention and putting it in a position to buy before what should be a fascinating deadline."
Still, Boston’s surge comes with a clear asterisk. Six of the club’s nine wins before the All-Star break came against the Los Angeles Angels and New York Mets, two of the league’s weakest teams. The Red Sox have earned their place in the Wild Card conversation, but they have not exactly bulldozed a gauntlet to get there.
Even so, some of Breslow’s offseason moves are looking much better now than they did a few weeks ago. Durbin and Seigler’s breakouts have helped make the Kyle Harrison trade, once viewed as a disaster, look less grim. Sonny Gray, Ranger Suarez and Contreras have all played major roles in the club’s success, and Jake Bennett has also become a real asset after arriving in a small prospect-for-prospect deal.
None of that means Breslow is out of the woods. Boston still has a long second half ahead, and the offense has to shed the bad habits that dragged it down early if this run is going to last. The biggest knocks against Breslow - his lack of experience and his terrible communication - are still there, win streak or no win streak.
But if the Red Sox keep playing like this and the offseason additions keep delivering, the front office may be willing to let Breslow’s rough edges slide for another year. At the very least, Boston’s hot streak has bought him something valuable: time.
In Other News...
Red Sox Suddenly Face A Risky Deadline Reunion Debate
The Red Sox have spent enough of this season building a legitimate pitching staff and staying in the playoff race that any deadline conversation now comes with a different kind of pressure. Boston does not need a splash for the sake of it, but the market is already starting to point toward names that would force the front office to weigh present-day help against long-term flexibility.
One scenario making the rounds would test that balance in a hurry, because it involves a familiar face with a hefty contract and a reliever who would instantly become one of the most coveted arms available. For Boston, the appeal is obvious on paper, but so is the risk of getting pulled into a deal that is as complicated financially as it is intriguing on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Trevor Story Suddenly Looms Over Red Sox Wild Card Push
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Story has been out since May 14 after sports hernia surgery, but his return is starting to feel close enough to matter in the standings conversation. A minor league rehab assignment appears near, though he has stopped short of putting a date on it, and once that assignment begins Boston will have a limited window before it has to make a decision on activating him. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox Fans May Need To Take Gage Ziehl More Seriously
Gage Ziehl keeps giving the Red Sox reasons to pay attention, even if his path to Boston still looks like a longer-term project. The right-hander turned in another sharp outing for Double-A Portland, working five scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and showing the kind of command and swing-and-miss stuff that can make a prospect start to move up the organizational ladder.
Ziehls rise is worth tracking because he has already been through a lot of movement for a pitcher still trying to establish himself. Boston got him this offseason in the deal that sent Jordan Hicks to the White Sox, and he had previously been traded from the Yankees to Chicago, so there has been plenty of roster churn around him already. He is not likely to reach the majors this season, but if the strong outings keep coming, Triple-A Worcester could be the next stop. [Read more 🡒]