Two Games, Two Runs, and a Lot of Venting: Boston's October Ended Before It Started

The Boston Red Sox won 87 games, outscored their opponents by 62 runs, and got a full season out of one of the best starting pitchers in the American League. Their reward was 18 innings in the Bronx and a flight home — again.

New York finished off a two-game Wild Card sweep at Yankee Stadium, following a 9-0 shutout with a 9-2 rout. Boston scored two runs total. It was the second consecutive October that the Yankees ended the Red Sox's season in the Wild Card round, a fact that has turned what used to be the sport's marquee rivalry into a lopsided formality.

The collapse had a runway

This didn't come out of nowhere. The Athletic noted it all started to fall apart in September, and the game log backs that up: Boston went 12-14 in the month with a minus-23 run differential. The Red Sox were swept out of the postseason two days after it began.

The shape of the season is what makes it sting. Chad Tracy took over an interim tag on a team that sat 10-17 and turned it into a playoff club, earning the full-time job and a contract extension for Craig Breslow alongside him. Then the regular-season profile revealed some cracks a short series could expose: Boston hit .246/.323/.408 as a team, and went just 17-27 at Fenway Park and 12-22 in day games. A lineup that leaned on pitching and small ball — 108 stolen bases, 183 homers — had no margin for error once the pitching staff was stretched thin.

Gray was the story, on and off the field

Sonny Gray was one of the few Red Sox who could hold his head up: 18-5 with a 2.72 ERA over 169 innings, 149 strikeouts, a 1.15 WHIP, and a 4.31 WAR. His underlying numbers (3.87 xERA) hint he was a touch fortunate, but that's a footnote on an outstanding year.

What wasn't a footnote: manager Chad Tracy pulled Gray after just 70 pitches in Wednesday's elimination game, a decision that drew pointed postgame comments from Gray and Willson Contreras — veterans speaking out about on- and off-field decision-making. Gray, who had retirement rumblings during the year, has since confirmed he intends to pitch in 2027 and is open to a Boston return. Whether the organization wants that reunion after the public friction is now a legitimate question, not a hypothetical.

What next

Boston's biggest obstacle to 2027 is health and additions, not a rebuild. Seven players ended the year on the 60-day IL, including Triston Casas, Kutter Crawford, Justin Slaten and Zack Kelly. Tanner Houck is reportedly progressing toward a return from Tommy John surgery. A projected rotation that also has to sort out Garrett Crochet's limited 30-inning, 6.30-ERA sample has real uncertainty.

Offensively, the Red Sox have signaled they know they need thump. The rumor mill already has them linked to Bryce Harper, a rekindled Elly De La Cruz conversation, and continued speculation about Jarren Duran's arbitration price making him a trade candidate. With 17 players arbitration-eligible and five headed to free agency, Breslow's second full winter is where this season actually gets judged.

There's a case this team is better than its record suggests — one power metric has Boston eighth with a plus-0.44 rating and a sharp upward move in recent weeks. But ratings don't win playoff games. Two runs in two games doesn't need a model to explain it.