Red Sox slump turns season into offseason reset

Four straight losses, a sweep by the Blue Jays, and a 29–43 record leave the Red Sox staring at another last-place run—and the pressure to stop pretending becomes louder as they weigh trades and the health timeline for Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet.

It was only June, and the Red Sox were already living in a kind of halfway limbo—playing games, losing them the same way, and watching the season quietly shrink until the only real future left is the next one.

On Thursday afternoon, the Red Sox dropped a 4-3 decision to the Blue Jays, their fourth straight loss. They were swept in the three-game set. And the newest bruise landed on a season-long pattern: the Red Sox fell to 0-32 in games where they’ve trailed by three or more runs. a statistic the organization will have to live with long after the final out.

They are now 29-43 on the season, 15½ games behind the Yankees in the American League East. The comparison that sticks—because it keeps arriving for a reason—is what the franchise looked like the last times it was close to real postseason success. In 2021, the Red Sox didn’t lose their 43rd game until July 31, when they already had 63 wins. In 2018. the last time they went to and won the World Series. they didn’t lose their 43rd game until Aug. 31, with 93 wins in hand.

This year feels different in one crucial way: the season is not being treated as something to claw out of. It’s being treated as something to get through.

By the numbers and by the roster construction. the argument has hardened: this group looks built for outcomes that don’t match the expectations Fenway demands. The Red Sox are on a path toward a third last-place finish in five years and a fourth in seven. It’s not being described as a lack of effort so much as a lack of repairability—bad. boring. and hard to shake.

The lineup itself sits at the center of that frustration. Willson Contreras is part of the conversation for a different reason. posting what’s described as a Manny Ramirez-type of season with 1 homer. with a slash line of .229/.354/.321. But the broader picture is what the columnist calls a rotation of underachievers. platoon players. and what he characterizes as “Quadruple-A replacement types. ” asked to perform above their capabilities. The interim manager. Chad Tracy—brought in when Alex Cora was set free—has to keep writing a lineup card that. in the piece’s framing. isn’t inspiring even in a far lower-tier environment.

The focus then turns to what happens next, and what the organization should not do.

There’s a push to treat the rest of 2026 as a bridge built toward 2027. The central point is that this season is already about next year—and that next year might come with disruptions. including the possibility that it is impacted and perhaps abbreviated by a lockout. In a season that reads as lost. the priority for the summer becomes straightforward: trading away veterans. especially those on short contracts. that would appeal to legitimate contenders.

The names that come up are Aroldis Chapman, closer role or not. Sonny Gray as a starting pitcher. And the possibility—described in terms of potential trade interest—for Garrett Whitlock and Jarren Duran. Even the confidence in the person tasked with making those calls doesn’t come easily in this telling; the columnist explicitly says he doesn’t necessarily trust chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to make the right deals. identifying him as “the architect of the structural mess” that has produced this lineup. Still. the argument is that if the job remains his. then in a season that can’t be fixed. trading veterans who aren’t part of long-term plans is the right approach for both the short and long term.

There’s another line drawn, and it’s about injuries.

The Red Sox. the piece warns. cannot rush Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet back from the kinds of timelines that require certainty—especially not for a public attempt to save face. Anthony. a gifted 22-year-old outfielder with instant-superstar expectations going into the season. didn’t have a clean start. going 229/.354/.321 with 1 homer. Then he hurt his hand/wrist on a check swing on May 4 against the Tigers.

The team’s descriptions of the injury have differed. The Red Sox called it a right wrist sprain when he went on the disabled list a few days later. Anthony later described it as a partial tear of a ligament at the joint in his right ring finger. The column also says that a clarifying story by colleague Alex Speier was published early this week. In the present. Anthony is still feeling pain when he swings the bat. and the injury to his carpometacarpal joint can take 8 to 12 weeks to heal. The argument is blunt: the Red Sox would be fools to bring him back before there is 100-percent certainty he is ready.

Garrett Crochet gets the same treatment in principle. He has been on the injured list since April 29, initially with left shoulder inflammation. Crochet had a setback when he suffered a lat strain while playing catch on May 28. He isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star break. The column says the approach with Crochet should parallel Anthony’s—neither should return until they are certain to be in full health.

For a franchise that once measured its timeline in deep playoff runs, the emotion here is rooted in disappointment and the fear of repeating mistakes—playing for optics instead of outcomes, and dragging the future into a short-term fantasy.

This season isn’t even half over, but the core message is that there isn’t anything essential left to save. The only essential thing remaining is the next chapter—and whether the organization can finally act like that is what matters.

Boston Red Sox Sonny Gray Blue Jays AL East Fenway Park Craig Breslow Chad Tracy Roman Anthony Garrett Crochet Aroldis Chapman Jarren Duran Garrett Whitlock