The Red Sox are running out of time to clean up an offense that has gone quiet at the worst moment. The strikeouts are piling up, runners aren’t being moved, and Boston’s bats have made a clinching opportunity look a lot harder than it should.
In the middle of all that frustration, Trevor Story has quietly become one of the few things working. On September 17 against the Texas Rangers, he delivered the biggest swing of the night - an eighth-inning, three-run homer that helped prevent a sweep and nudged Boston closer to locking up a playoff berth.
That moment didn’t come out of nowhere. Since coming off the injured list on August 30, Story has been one of the team’s best hitters, even while the rest of the lineup has stumbled around him.
He’s slashing .349/.359/.508 with seven doubles, a home run and nine RBI over that stretch. With Boston’s lineup producing so little length lately, Story’s work has been easy to miss.
The swing-and-miss has still been part of the package. Story has struck out 31.3 percent of the time in his 16 games since returning, which hasn’t helped a Red Sox offense already leaning too hard on empty trips to the plate. But when Boston needed a jolt, he delivered one.
That’s what makes this run so important for the Red Sox. Story has been one of the rare bright spots in an otherwise flat September, and his homer against Texas could give the rest of the club something to build on as the season winds down.
There’s also a bigger reason Boston should feel encouraged by what it’s seeing. Story was excellent in September last year, too, posting a .302/.337/.458 line with six doubles, three homers and 12 RBI in 22 games. Right now, he looks like a player the Red Sox can lean on as they head toward a Wild Card matchup for the second straight year.
It’s also a sharp turnaround from where Story stood earlier in the year. Before his injury, he was hitting just .206/.244/.303 with 57 strikeouts and eight walks in 41 games.
Once the Red Sox revealed the sports hernia that had been bothering him, it was fair to wonder whether another rough season was on the way. The injury may have been dragging him down more than anyone realized.
And given that Boston didn’t add a true slugger over the offseason - the kind of bat that could have changed the shape of this lineup - the team needed Story to take a step forward after his 2025 season. The power hasn’t fully shown up yet, but Thursday night’s homer was the kind of blow that can shift a stretch run. If the Red Sox are going to hold their Wild Card position, they need the rest of the offense to catch up to the level Story has found.
In Other News...
A Yastrzemski Just Added Another Twist To Red Sox October History
Mike Yastrzemski ended up giving Red Sox fans another strange October footnote, even if he was doing it in an Atlanta uniform. His three-run home run for the Braves against the Astros helped Atlanta clinch the National League East and, in the process, shut down Houstons chance to catch Boston in the standings. The result officially locked in a wild-card postseason berth for the Red Sox, adding one more layer to a playoff race that had been hanging by a thread.
The family connection makes it even more of a baseball oddity. Yastrzemski is the grandson of Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski, so the play tied a modern postseason turn directly back to one of the most familiar names in club history. For Boston, it was another reminder that the October road can twist in unexpected ways, sometimes with a name from the past helping shape the present. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox Face Tough Offseason Calls On Several Familiar Names
The Red Sox should get a little healthier before the season is over, with several players projected to come off the injured list and give the roster more depth down the stretch. Even so, the bigger picture is already starting to take shape for Boston, where the front office will have to sort through a list of familiar names whose places on next years roster are far from secure.
Masataka Yoshida, Patrick Sandoval, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Triston Casas and Jahmai Jones all sit in that uncertain space for different reasons, from injury concerns to performance questions to simple roster math. It is the kind of offseason sorting that can reshape the edges of a club quickly, and for the Red Sox, the decisions around those players could be just as important as anything they do on the field between now and the winter. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox Prospect Pipeline Just Got A New Reason For Buzz
The latest Bowman Chrome release has given Red Sox followers another excuse to track the farm system a little more closely. The set includes first-ever cards of prospects before they reach the majors, and this year four Boston signees landed 1st Bowman cards, bringing together the usual mix of hype, scouting intrigue and collector attention that tends to follow the organizations better young talent.
For a club that has already seen some prospects move on in recent trades, the timing adds another layer to the buzz around the pipeline. The release also spotlights additional Red Sox prospects who could draw interest from collectors if their development keeps trending the right way, which is part of what makes these early-card windows so appealing. The names will matter most eventually on the field, but for now they give Boston fans one more way to watch the future take shape. [Read more 🡒]