The Red Sox are once again on the outside looking in when it comes to the World Series, but Friday night’s opener between the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays still offered Boston a little something to think about.
The Brewers escaped with a 3-2 win in Game 1, and the matchup featured plenty of reminders about what separates the teams playing in October from the club watching from home for the eighth straight year. But beyond the result itself, there’s a name on one of those rosters that could make sense for Boston this winter: Gary Sánchez.
Sánchez looks like the kind of short-term fit a team with an established No. 1 catcher can plug in without turning the roster upside down. Milwaukee has that in William Contreras. Boston does too, with Adley Rutschman, whom Sánchez worked alongside with the Baltimore Orioles in 2025.
That leaves the backup job, and Connor Wong has held that spot for the Red Sox for several seasons. He’s also in his second-to-last year of arbitration, so the price tag may not be all that different from what Sánchez could command on the open market. Wong did show a little more at the plate this year, but he doesn’t offer the kind of punch Boston would get from “El Gary.”
And that punch is real. Sánchez put up 12 home runs in just 86 regular-season plate appearances this season, pushing his career total past 200. He’ll be 34 next year, and he brings serious postseason experience with him, including at least 35 playoff games and seven home runs.
For Boston, this wouldn’t be the loudest move of the offseason. But if the Red Sox are looking to add right-handed power to a lineup that has lacked it for years, Sánchez fits the bill as a move worth keeping an eye on.
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