Fenway Park in October is a cool scene, and the Red Sox got very close to bringing that atmosphere back to life last season. After several trades, with a majority oddly being with the NL Central, made this offseason, the Red Sox have several new faces. With a division like the AL East, sometimes that is necessary to beat the best.

Let’s take a look at where the Red Sox stand heading into 2026.

The Red Sox finished last season with a record of 89-73, just a handful of games behind the Blue Jays and Yankees, who tied for the best record in the AL East. After a lacklustre 11-17 May that buried them in fourth place in the division, Boston finished the season 61-41 and gradually worked their way into the playoff conversation.

Boston earned their first playoff birth since 2021, but they lost in the AL Wild Card series against the Yankees after Cam Schlittler struck out 12 hitters and walked none in the series-deciding game.

The Red Sox finished just inside the top 10 in runs per game (4.62), slugging percentage (.421), and OPS (.745), but their pitching numbers were a bit more lopsided; despite posting a 3.70 ERA (4th in the MLB), they finished 17th in WHIP (1.29) and 16th in strikeouts per game (8.4).

The Red Sox found themselves in the headlines early and often throughout the 2025 baseball season. After acquiring third baseman Alex Bregman in mid-February, Boston’s star third baseman, Rafael Devers, told media members during Spring Training that third base was still his spot. Members of the Red Sox front office and coaching staff approached Devers about perhaps moving away from third, but Devers still pleaded his case.

The team would wind up making Devers the permanent DH, but that wouldn’t last the entire season. That’s because Boston would trade him to the San Francisco Giants in mid-June in exchange for major league pitchers Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks, as well as pitching prospect Jose Bello and outfield prospect James Tibbs III. We’ll dive into it more in the following section, but as of today, only Bello is left in the Red Sox organization.

Bregman was still a productive piece to Boston’s puzzle early in the season, hitting .297/.381/.554 with 11 home runs, 35 RBIs, and 17 doubles through the end of May. He, unfortunately, suffered a quad injury that kept him out until mid-July, and after that, he cooled down during the final month of the season. Bregman would exercise the first of his opt-out clauses after the season ended, and ultimately sign with the Chicago Cubs.

The Red Sox debuted a trio of their young stars at different points in the season: Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer, and Roman Anthony. Whether it was injury or poor performance, however, all three ran into their roadblocks. Campbell got off to a great start to the season, but the cold months of May and June had him sent down to Triple-A. Mayer suffered a wrist injury in July that held him out for the rest of the season, and Anthony, although producing at a high level, suffered an oblique injury that also kept him out of the remainder of the season and playoffs.

Mayer and Anthony have both made the team out of Spring Training, but Campbell will start in Triple-A.

While it sounds like nothing but negative things happened to the Red Sox last year, they were able to see Trevor Story on the field for the entire season, something they had not seen since they signed him to a six-year deal ahead of the 2022 season. Story played in 157 games last year, just six games less than the previous three seasons combined. He slashed .263/.308/.433 with 25 homers, 96 RBIs, and 29 doubles, numbers that were pretty similar to his final season in Colorado.

The Devers trade and injuries opened up a path to playing time for Romy González, who played in a career-high 96 games and hit .305/.343/.483 with 9 home runs and 53 RBIs. He also hit .331 with a .978 OPS against left-handed pitchers, giving Boston a pair of great options between him and Rob Refsnyder.

Boston had to patch some things up on the starting pitching side, but they found their ace in Garrett Crochet. After acquiring him from the White Sox last offseason and inking him to a six-year contract extension, Crochet finished second in AL Cy Young voting, hurling a 2.59 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and an AL-best 11.2 K/9. He also threw a complete-game shutout and held an 18-5 record, a win total that was second only to Max Fried of the Yankees.

The Red Sox also extended closer Aroldis Chapman through 2026 with a mutual option for 2027 after having an exceptional season. He posted a 1.17 ERA, a career-best 0.70 WHIP, and 12.5 K/9, as well as 32 saves, the most he has recorded since 2019.

Boston did a lot of their heavy lifting by way of trading, but they did make one big splash in the free agent market by signing SP Ranger Suárez to a five-year, $130 million contract that is largely backloaded and includes a mutual option for 2031.

Fresh off a WBC championship with Venezuela, Suárez will be putting on a non-Phillies uniform for the first time in his soon-to-be nine-year career. He missed the beginning of the 2025 season with lower-back stiffness, but after his return, he put up a 3.20 ERA, 3.21 FIP, 1.22 WHIP, and 8.6 K/9 through 26 starts.

Suárez has yet to make 30 starts in a single season, fighting at least one injury since he became a full-time starter in 2022. His four-seam fastball and sinker sit in the low 90s, but he’s been really good about limiting hard contact and keeping low exit velocities. Suárez has also pitched in 11 postseason games with several meaningful NL East matchups, so he’s in line to enter a similar role behind Crochet in Boston’s rotation.

As far as their rotation goes, the Red Sox didn’t stop at Suárez. They acquired SP Sonny Gray from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for SP Richard Fitts, starting pitching prospect Brandon Clarke, and a PTBNL. Gray, about to enter his 14th major league season, has one year left on his current contract that he signed with the Cardinals, and he also has a mutual option for next season.

Gray held a 4.28 last season with a 1.23 WHIP and 10.0 K/9 through 32 starts. He did post a home run rate north of 3% for the second straight season, however, tripling what he produced in his final season as a Twin. Although his fastball velocity hangs around the low 90s, his sweeper generated a whiff rate over 40% for the third consecutive season, a piece of what led him to rank in the 93rd percentile in walk rate.

Boston stayed in the NL Central, snagging SP Johan Oviedo, as well as reliever prospect Tyler Samaniego, and catching prospect Adonys Guzman from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for OF Jhostynxon García and SP Jesus Travieso.  Oviedo will be an intriguing addition to Boston’s rotation. He underwent Tommy John surgery following the 2023 season, and his return was unfortunately delayed by a lat injury that kept him sidelined until last August, but he churned out some solid results during the nine starts he made to conclude the year.

He owned a 3.57 ERA with a 1.22 WHIP and a 9.4 K/9, but he struggled with the amount of free passes he handed out (23 in 40 1/3 innings). His fastball sits in the mid 90s, and he’s got a slider and curveball that have a 10 mph difference between them. The team recently reported that Oviedo will be used in a piggyback role out of the bullpen to start the season.

The Red Sox weren’t done with trading (or the NL Central), making another deal with the Cardinals by acquiring 1B Willson Contreras in exchange for SP Hunter Dobbins, and pitching prospects Yhoiker Fajardo and Blake Aita.

The Red Sox are hoping to get some level of consistency out of the first base position after playing musical chairs there a season ago. A former catcher, Contreras played the second-most games in a single season of his career last year, hitting .257/.344/.447 with 20 home runs, 31 doubles, 80 RBIs. He’s become a routine 20-home-run hitter since ’21, so if he’s able to stay on the field, Boston would have the consistent first baseman they are looking for with a couple of years left on his absorbed deal.

To finally round out their raid of the NL Central, Boston acquired 3B Caleb Durbin, SS Andruw Monasterio, INF Anthony Siegler (debut last year), and a Competitive Balance Round B pick in exchange for SP Kyle Harrison, 2B David Hamilton, and SP Shane Drohan.

Durbin is the headliner in this deal after finishing third in National League Rookie of the Year voting last season. He hit .256/.334/.387 with 11 homers, 53 RBIs, 25 doubles, and 18 stolen bases through 136 games total. Durbin gives the Red Sox solid defence, as well as some positional flexibility with his experience at second and short last year. Although they are quickly parting ways with one of the Devers trade returns, this deal gives the Red Sox plenty of infield depth, especially once you factor in Monasterio’s 219 major league games at a variety of positions.

Speaking of the Devers deal, the Red Sox dealt away Jordan Hicks, starting pitching prospect David Sandlin, two PTBNLs, and cash in exchange for pitching prospect Gage Ziehl and, you guessed it, a PTBNL. This deal primarily gets Hicks’s contract off of Boston’s books, but it came at the expense of departing with a promising prospect in Sandlin.

Ziehl was dealt by the White Sox from the Yankees last season in a trade for Austin Slater. He appeared in three different levels last season, posting a 4.12 ERA over 107 innings, walking only 19 batters.

To conclude their offseason, Boston signed utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa and lefty reliever Danny Coulombe to respective one-year deals. Kiner-Falefa played in 138 games last season between the Blue Jays and Pirates last year, hitting .262/.297/.334 with two homers, 40 RBIs, 21 doubles, and 15 stolen bases.

Coulombe has put together a few solid seasons in a row, not posting an ERA above 2.81 since 2021. He held a 1.16 ERA with the Twins through 40 games before being traded to the Rangers. He had an abnormal stint with Texas to conclude the season, walking 9 batters in just 12 innings, while also allowing three home runs, nearly half of the amount he had allowed the prior two seasons combined.

As unfortunate as the Devers-Bregman situation had turned into, the Red Sox still ooze talent all over the field. Even with Campbell starting the season in the minor leagues, they’ve got Mayer and Anthony ready to go with a clean slate. Although well past his rookie season, Wilyer Abreu could be a very important piece for them offensively with a path to fairly consistent playing time.

I do like the overhaul (if you will) that they performed on their pitching staff, although I am a bit surprised that Oviedo did not make the rotation. Having a no-brainer like Crochet at the top of that rotation is well worth the contract to which they signed him, and it’s hard to ask for a better season than what he gave them last year.

I can rave about Boston’s potential, but they’re not head-and-shoulders above anyone in the AL East. They are a threat to win the division, but they’re going to need some forward steps to be taken from multiple bats. Are they capable of that? Absolutely.

Off The Roster is Toronto sports. Hosted by Cabbie Richards, Lindsay Dunn, and Dan Riccio, this is the go-to morning conversation for everything happening in the 6ix – Hockey, Baseball, Basketball and everything in between. From breakout performances and questionable trades to throwback jerseys, viral moments, and the stories fans are actually talking about—it’s smart, sharp, and never scripted. Live weekday mornings on the Nation Network YouTube channel and available wherever you stream podcasts, the show delivers real opinions, real chemistry, and real Toronto energy. Missed an episode? Catch up anytime. Off The Roster—The new sound of the 6ix.