{"id":367,"date":"2026-05-15T06:33:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T06:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=367"},"modified":"2026-05-15T06:33:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T06:33:34","slug":"not-all-is-lost-for-last-place-red-sox-as-a-down-american-league-leaves-a-wild-card-spot-within-reach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=367","title":{"rendered":"Not all is lost for last-place Red Sox, as a down American League leaves a wild-card spot within reach"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>Almost everything has gone wrong for the 2026 Red Sox. Emphasis on almost.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>With a 3-1 loss to the Phillies on Thursday night, the Sox occupy last place in the American League East, 10\u00bd games behind the first-place Rays. Yet their playoff hopes haven\u2019t receded completely from view thanks to a vast wasteland of league mediocrity in an era of expanded playoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=365\">New R.I. House speaker\u2019s first big move: pushing to create an inspector general\u2019s office<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>To this point, the 2026 American League has a significant claim to being amidst the worst start ever by a league. Every team entered Thursday having played at least 42 games. At the 42-game marker, just three teams (Rays, 28-14; Yankees, 26-16; Athletics, 22-20) were over .500.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>How rare is that? Since the introduction of the wild card in 1995, this is the first time either league has had only three teams above .500 through 42 games.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Not since 1998 had either league had fewer than five. From 1995-2025, each league averaged seven.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span>The result? Despite an 18-24 start that ranked as the worst by the Red Sox since 2020, the Sox sat just 2\u00bd games out of the third wild-card spot. Whereas the Mets and Giants entered Thursday with 18-25 records that landed them 6\u00bd games outside, the Sox face a less steep incline thanks to the grim state of the AL.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The result? Despite their worst start since 2020, the Sox remain three games out of the third wild-card spot. The Mets and Giants also are 18-25, but are seven games out of a playoff spot in a stronger National League.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe obviously, to this point, have not had the start record-wise that we want,\u201d said interim manager Chad Tracy. \u201cThere are other years where you look and say, \u2018Man, that dug us in a really, really big hole.\u2019 It certainly has in the division. But this year, for whatever reason, you look and say, \u2018This hasn\u2019t dug us in a massive hole as far as the playoffs are considered.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cYou stop saying it\u2019s early because, like we\u2019ve got to [start playing better baseball]. But it is May [14], and we\u2019re only [three] or whatever games it is from a wild-card spot. I think you look at that and say, \u2018Count your blessings there.\u2019 It seems like other teams are having the same issues we are trying to get on track.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>Sonny Gray and Aroldis Chapman, the Red Sox\u2019 elder statesmen, show there\u2019s more than one way to get outs<\/div>\n<p><span>Of course, there\u2019s another way of looking at the Sox\u2019 poor performance. Having a worse record than 12 of the 15 AL teams, including seven with losing records, speaks to both a missed opportunity and the depths of their early-season woes.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>But it also speaks to the possibility of improvement. Foremost, if the lineup can even perform at a middle-of-the-pack level rather than as one of the worst (3.7 runs per game, tied for second-worst in baseball), the pitching has been good enough (2.56 ERA in May) to see how the club could move forward amidst the peloton of wild-card contenders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=363\">Upset over cuts, some Boston city councilors weigh rejecting Wu\u2019s budget plan to push for higher spending<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>There is also the prospect of a trade \u2014 though any significant deals at this stage of the season remain unlikely, according to league sources. The Sox, like other struggling teams, are spitballing both big and small trade ideas within their own walls, and there has been more industry-wide chatter than is typical at this stage of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But the teams amidst the most disappointing starts (including the Sox, Mets, Angels, Astros, and Giants) can still squint and see a path to contention \u2014 and in multiple cases, have front offices that may be fighting for their jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As such, even if teams made difference-making players available, they\u2019d likely hold out for incredibly high returns. This is a time of year where trade discussions more typically come as demands rather than as the basis for negotiations. Those dynamics rarely serve as precursors to major moves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Instead, the Sox are focused chiefly on internal improvement, while also recognizing the struggles of competitors have kept them in a better position than they likely deserve.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>They are not the memeified cartoon dog sitting in the middle of flames pronouncing, \u201cThis is fine.\u201d They own their record. They recognize the need to be better than what they\u2019ve been. Still, they\u2019re not blind to the shortage of both heavyweights and middleweights in the rest of the league.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>How the Red Sox\u2019 firing its coaches has affected the minor-league affiliates<\/div>\n<p><span>\u201cWe really haven\u2019t taken off yet,\u201d said reliever Justin Slaten. \u201cWe\u2019re not where we want to be, but we\u2019re also not entirely in a horrible spot given kind of the state of the rest of the American League.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The poor starts across the league represent a gift to the Sox. It remains to be seen whether they can take advantage of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s up to us to turn it around and go on a run,\u201d said Slaten. \u201cBut nobody in here has lost any sort of confidence or faith where it\u2019s just like, \u2018The season\u2019s over.\u2019 If it was a month left and we were at the bottom of the standings, then you\u2019re like, \u2018Well, this kind of feels insurmountable.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=361\">Florida court to consider whether new US House map violates state ban on partisan gerrymandering<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cNothing about this feels insurmountable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Red Sox are focused chiefly on internal improvement, while also recognizing the struggles of competitors have kept them in a better position in the league than they likely deserve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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