How Red Sox win streak impacts trade deadline, playoff race, more

Here’s how things are going for the Boston Red Sox. Seeking their 14th consecutive win Monday night at Fenway Park, Aroldis Chapman entered the ninth inning to preserve a 6-5 lead over the Baltimore Orioles — a lead Boston’s Caleb Durbin had provided with a two-out home run in the eighth.

Chapman walked Colton Cowser to lead off the inning but then recorded back-to-back strikeouts. The Orioles, riding a seven-game winning streak, weren’t about to give in. Gunnar Henderson doubled off the Green Monster — maybe a tying RBI in some parks, but not in Boston. With runners on second and third, Chapman got two quick strikes on Tyler O’Neill and reared back with a 101.6-mph fastball, the fastest pitch he’s thrown all season.

O’Neill lined the ball toward left field, a certain tying and possible go-ahead hit. Except shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng was shaded in that direction, took a step to his right and reached above his head to snag the final out.

Fourteen in a row, one win away from tying the longest winning streak in franchise history set in 1946, a year Ted Williams hit .342 and won MVP honors as the Red Sox won the American League pennant.

Some fun statistics from the streak, which remains at 14 after Tuesday’s game was postponed due to weather:

• The 14-game streak is the longest in the majors this season.

• Monday’s win was the Red Sox’s ninth straight against AL East opponents, their longest such streak since 2016.

• The comeback win against the Orioles was their sixth of July, tied with the Brewers for most in the month.

• The pitching staff has a 1.98 ERA during the streak, including three shutouts.

• The lineup is hitting .255/.341/.461 with 22 home runs, averaging 5.9 runs per game. They had averaged 4.0 runs prior to the streak, hitting 73 home runs in 85 games.

What makes this streak even more remarkable is where the Red Sox were before it began. Let’s dive into what’s changed for the surging team and what it means for the final months of the 2026 season.

When things turned around

On June 24, the Red Sox lost 8-6 to Colorado after the Rockies scored three runs in the seventh inning and two in the eighth. Marcelo Mayer‘s error on a routine grounder had opened the floodgates in the seventh. Two days before that loss, the Red Sox had blown a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth against the Rockies when Chapman gave up three runs without getting an out. The Red Sox were 14 games under .500 at 32-46 on June 24, the worst record in the AL and better only than the Rockies in all of MLB.

Things were bleaker than a Boston winter.

Firing manager Alex Cora in late April and replacing him with Triple-A skipper Chad Tracy hadn’t changed anything. Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony, the team’s two best projected players heading into the season, were injured. They weren’t hitting home runs. Craig Breslow, the top baseball executive, was understandably facing heat from a ruthless local media and disgruntled fanbase. Even more ire was directed at owner John Henry, and chants of “Sell the team” had been heard at Fenway since early April.

The turnaround began with, of all things, a delayed flight out of Colorado, when a mechanical issue forced the plane to turn back to Denver, and the team waited five hours for a replacement plane, not arriving in Boston until 5 a.m. Tracy told the team to report an hour later than normal to the ballpark for the June 25 game against the New York Yankees.

They beat the Yankees 6-2 that night. And then 6-1, 4-1 and 5-4 in 10 innings, sweeping the four-game series and beginning the current 19-2 stretch.

Since then, later report times have become a regular thing.

What changed for the Red Sox?

Are the later times why they started winning? No, of course not, but maybe it’s helped in some small way. Sometimes, less baseball can lead to better baseball. In fact, Joe Maddon was known for giving his teams a day off from batting practice.

The bigger reason for Boston’s newfound winning ways has been the starting rotation, which has a 2.66 ERA during the 19-2 stretch. Amazingly, the Red Sox have done this not only without Crochet, but in part without Connelly Early — who landed on the IL with a sore elbow early in this stretch — and Ranger Suarez, who was scheduled to return from the 15-day IL on Tuesday but had his start pushed back a day.

Sonny Gray has gone 3-0 with a 1.07 ERA in four starts as he’s pitched his way into the Cy Young conversation, but the surprise hero has been Jake Bennett, a 25-year-old rookie left-hander acquired in the offseason from the Washington Nationals for Luis Perales. In nine starts, essentially replacing the struggling Brayan Bello, Bennett is 5-3 with a 2.35 ERA, including 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA during the 19-2 stretch. He doesn’t throw hard with a 92-93 mph fastball, but he’s 6-foot-6 with great extension, an outstanding changeup and the ability to induce ground balls.

For all the criticism of Breslow, his offseason focus had been built on creating rotation depth — signing Suarez, trading for Gray and Johan Oviedo (who appeared in one game before getting injured) and trading for Bennett in a minor transaction. Breslow, however, also traded Kyle Harrison in the Durbin deal, and when Harrison got off to a hot start with the Milwaukee Brewers while Durbin was hitting well under .200 for two months, it looked like Breslow had traded a valuable pitcher for a 5-foot-7 third baseman who was hardly filling the shoes of Alex Bregman.

Maybe we just needed to give the season time to marinate.

Boston’s pitching depth has played out without Crochet. Gray has pitched like an ace (12-1, 2.48). Suarez has been an excellent addition, with a 3.15 ERA in 17 starts. The three rookie lefties — Payton Tolle, Early and Bennett — have started 42 of the team’s 99 games. Patrick Sandoval, signed last year, has made two starts in his return from Tommy John surgery. Eduardo Rivera, a fourth rookie lefty, has made two starts filling in for Suarez.

And Durbin? He’s hitting .330 his past 28 games with seven home runs and a .986 OPS. He made a few adjustments, closing his stance to keep him from pulling off the ball as often. He’s up to 2.3 WAR — almost the same as the 2.4 that Bregman has produced for the Chicago Cubs this season.

What all this means for 2026

Where does this leave the Red Sox for the final two-plus months? Their playoff odds via FanGraphs have increased from 9.4% on June 24 to 13.8% on July 1 to 63.9% after Monday’s win. They’ve climbed from as much as 15½ games behind the then-division-leading Yankees to 6½ games behind the now-leading Tampa Bay Rays. The playoffs are in play for the Red Sox — and so is the AL East (although Boston has just one series left against each the Rays and Yankees). They have flipped the trade deadline script, going from one of the primary teams dealing players (Gray and Chapman would have been potential trade options) to one looking to add.

Five keys the rest of the way:

1. Will Crochet and Early return? Crochet has yet to start a throwing program while Early has started throwing from flat ground after an MRI revealed no structural damage in his left elbow. There is still depth here with Gray, Suarez, Tolle, Bennett and Sandoval, but certainly getting one or both of Crochet and Early back will help. The rotation has been stellar but can’t keep pitching at this level.

2. Keep hitting home runs. Through June 24, the Red Sox ranked 29th in home runs. Since June 25, they rank 16th. Willson Contreras has been on a heater during this 21-game stretch, hitting .333/.429/.741 with 20 RBIs. Jarren Duran continues to struggle, however, with a .594 season OPS and a .156 average over the past 21 games.

3. Who’s the answer at shortstop? Trevor Story has been on the 60-day IL after surgery for a sports hernia and hopes to begin a rehab assignment in August. But he was unplayable before the injury with an OPS+ of 54 and a 57/8 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Mayer went on the IL on June 26 with a stress fracture in left forearm. He wasn’t hitting much better than Story and, let’s face it, the team started winning without him anyway.

For now, Cheng, a 24-year-old rookie, is the starter, but he was claimed off waivers in February. Maybe a trade? Zach Neto or Jeremy Pena would cost a lot but provide a big upgrade. Or what about top prospect Franklin Arias, who has an OPS over 1.000 in Double-A?

4. What about second base? Anthony Seigler is the starter right now. He was part of the Durbin-Harrison trade and has just 60 games in the majors. He’s hit better than Mayer, although Mayer has the better glove. He’s fine but Luis Arraez is one of the players most likely to be traded at the deadline and could be a fit here.

5. Add a reliever. Everyone could use a reliever. While Chapman and Garrett Whitlock are strong at the back end, 35-year-old Tyron Guerrero, who last pitched in the majors in 2019, is now getting high-leverage innings (and has pitched well, with 27 strikeouts and two walks in 21⅔ innings). Jovani Moran has given the Red Sox another lefty and has pitched well in July, but you can never have too many relievers.

Adding an infielder should be the top priority, as the Red Sox should move on from Story and Mayer, at least for 2026. Certainly, getting Anthony back from a torn ligament in right ring finger and wrist — and hitting like he did at the end of 2025 as opposed to the start of 2026 — would be a huge addition, but as of a few days ago, he still hadn’t started swinging a bat. His return could send Duran to the bench.

Right now, Boston is rolling. The vibes changed 360 degrees over three weeks. The offseason plan is now working. The Red Sox seem to have saved their season.