Boston Red Sox
“I think this is just the beginning of something great that is gonna happen in Boston.”
The 2025 Red Sox won just one playoff game in the American League Wild Card Series against their longtime AL East rival Yankees last month before losing the next two contests and being knocked out of the postseason in the Bronx.
A lot has happened since then. New York got bounced by the Blue Jays in the ALDS, who took the World Series to seven games against the victorious Dodgers.
Back home, shortstop Trevor Story opted in to his contract with Boston, while third baseman Alex Bregman chose to opt out of his. Lucas Giolito was not extended the qualifying offer by the Red Sox. On top of that, it feels inevitable that at least one member of the team’s crowded outfield will be dealt to even it out.
All of those circumstances leave Boston in limbo over the next few months as MLB’s offseason is officially underway, as free agency began on Thursday and the trade market opened last Sunday.
Manager Alex Cora has had a little over one month to decompress from a strenuous season that didn’t end the way he hoped it would, as well as look toward the future despite not knowing what his roster will look like come Opening Day in March 2026.
He appeared on MLB Network’s “Hot Stove” on Friday to reflect on the Red Sox’ up-and-down year and express hope for a more successful 2026.
“We did a good job. I think, as an organization, we took a step forward, but we got work to do,” Cora said. “You saw who was in the World Series from our division. You know who beat us in the playoffs. We still are short compared to other teams, but we are trending in the right direction.”
Boston may have taken the regular season series against the Yankees 9-4, but New York edged the Red Sox when it mattered in October to advance. The majority of Boston’s roster gained valuable postseason experience for the first time, nonetheless. But experience only means so much in the grand scheme of things.
A rollercoaster ride of a regular season certainly contributed to rocky points that factored into the team finishing in third place in the division with an 89-73 record. Cora referenced some of those situations, and some more positive moments that helped propel the Red Sox to the playoffs.
“I talked about it before we made it to the Wild Card series, that yeah, a lot of people expected us to make it to the playoffs, but the roster we had on March 28 in Texas was a lot different than the roster we had at the end of September,” he said. “Injuries, the trade [of Rafael Devers to the Giants], guys struggling, guys stepping up. They did an amazing job.”
The first half of the season featured far more uncertainty than the second half, highlighted by the Devers trade. Bats like Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Masataka Yoshida in the second half stepped up to fill the void of Devers, Anthony in particular giving fans a glimpse into his bright future.
Anthony, whose rookie season was cut short due to an oblique injury at the beginning of September, should play a large part in leading Boston back to the postseason. The prospect of a lineup featuring himself, possibly Bregman again, and perhaps another addition via free agency or trade (depending on where Bregman chooses to play, Triston Casas’s future) should put the team in a good position to continue competing with the best teams in the AL.
“When I got home after the series, I sat down and was disappointed that we lost to the Yankees. But overall, you look at the whole season, and you feel like, ‘OK, we’re frustrated in a sense, but at the same time, we accomplished a lot of things,’” Cora said. “I think this is just the beginning of something great that is gonna happen in Boston.”
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