The Boston Red Sox went from looking buried to looking alive in a hurry.
Not long ago, they had dropped two of three to the Colorado Rockies, sat 14 games under .500 and owned the worst record in the American League. That picture changed fast over the weekend, when Boston swept four straight from the New York Yankees and started to look like a team with some real momentum.
The turnaround has been enough to shift the conversation. FanGraphs has already nudged the Red Sox’s playoff odds from 9.4 percent to 18 percent, and the club has now won seven of its last 10 games. What looked like a clear sell situation at the trade deadline suddenly feels a lot less certain.
Ken Rosenthal pointed to that shift on Monday’s episode of “Foul Territory,” saying Boston may be one of the more intriguing teams in the league right now.
"The Red Sox are really interesting in the American League," Ken Rosenthal said on Monday's episode of "Foul Territory." "They're four and a half games back in the wild card, but we saw this weekend what they can do when they pitch.
If they get another bat...then they maybe get interesting, and maybe they go on a run. They have an easy schedule coming up...
They have a chance here to do something."
That schedule could matter a lot. The Red Sox are set to face the Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Angels, Chicago White Sox and New York Mets before the All-Star Break. If they can keep trimming the gap to .500 and finish the first half strong, they could move from seller to buyer if they remain in the playoff race.
And if that happens, Boston’s second half could get a whole lot more interesting.
In Other News...
Red Sox Fans Have Just One Reason To Feel Better About This Trade
The Red Soxs swap with Milwaukee sent left-hander Kyle Harrison, David Hamilton and Shane Drohan out the door in exchange for third baseman Caleb Durbin, a deal that was always going to be judged by what Boston got back at the hot corner. For much of the 2026 season, Durbin looked like another player who was hard to get excited about, but his recent uptick has given the Red Sox at least a little reason to think the move might not age as badly as it first seemed.
Even so, the larger picture is still murky. Durbins rebound has come after a long rough stretch, and his overall production remains light enough that Boston cant call the trade a clear win yet. Hamilton, meanwhile, has not done much to change the Brewers end of the deal, which leaves this looking less like a finished evaluation than a bet the Red Sox are still waiting to cash in. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox Rookie Lefties Just Made A Real Statement Vs Yankees
What Boston got from its rookie left-handers against the Yankees went beyond a couple of promising outings. Jake Bennett worked into the seventh inning for the first time in his professional career, and the young trio of Bennett, Payton Tolle and Connelly Early has given the Red Sox a run of innings that looked a lot more polished than raw, helping extend the clubs streak of quality starts to 10 in a row.
The bigger takeaway is how quickly that group has stabilized things against a division rival that usually exposes inexperience. Bostons rotation has not only kept turning in quality work, it has done so at a historic clip for the franchise, and the rookie lefties have been a big part of why the Yankees series felt less like a test of survival and more like a statement of depth. What comes next for those three will tell us plenty about whether this is a flash or a foundation. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox Just Sent A Troubling Signal About Their Deadline Direction
Three straight wins over the Yankees offered a needed jolt, but they have not changed the larger math facing the Red Sox. Boston is still 11 games under .500 and five games back in the American League Wild Card race, which is why every move leading into the trade deadline has taken on extra weight for a club trying to decide whether to push forward or start looking ahead.
According to an anonymous major league executive cited by Sean McAdam, the latest read on Boston is that rival teams are hearing more about selling than adding. The deadline is just over a month away and comes on Aug. 3, so the next few weeks should clarify whether the Red Sox are still weighing offensive help or have already shifted into a different mode entirely. [Read more 🡒]