{"id":806624,"date":"2026-08-08T08:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/806624\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:32:11","slug":"dan-shaughnessy-watching-the-2026-red-sox-has-been-quite-the-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/806624\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan Shaughnessy: Watching the 2026 Red Sox has been quite the trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seriously, folks. Since the end of June, Sox fans have shared box seats in the front row of baseball\u2019s alternate universe. Go ask Alex (Speier). Up is down and down is up. Caleb Durbin is Wade Boggs and Ceddanne Rafaela is Reggie Smith. The team that couldn\u2019t win is the team that can\u2019t lose<\/a>. With apologies to Grace Slick, the man on the chessboard is telling us where to go. White Knight Tom Caron is talking backward, and logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead. Once 14 games under .500 and 15\u00bd games behind the Yankees, the Red Sox pulled to within a half-game of the Yanks entering Saturday and look like a sure playoff team. <\/p>\n

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Get a load of these numbers: Since June 25, the Sox are 32-5 (going into Saturday). They are 27-3 since July 3. They won a franchise-tying-best 15 straight and went 21-4 in July \u2014 the best month in 126 seasons of Red Sox baseball. Between July 7-Aug. 6, they went 16-0 against four playoff likely teams (Yankees, Rays, White Sox, Dodgers). <\/p>\n

For New England\u2019s fans, these Sox are a gift on par with the 2025 Patriots, who last fall\/winter rebounded from back-to-back 4-13 campaigns with a stunning return to the Super Bowl, winning 15 of 16, in a sweet ride that didn\u2019t end till they were pancaked in Santa Clara by the mighty Seahawks. <\/p>\n

The 2026 Red Sox were no joke coming into their psychedelic summer. They won 89 last year before losing a Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium. Back in March, 6 of 7 Globies picked them to return to the playoffs<\/a>. That was before a trainwreck start got their manager and six coaches fired after only 27 games. They got no immediate bounce when Chad Tracy replaced Alex Cora, and bottomed out at 14 games under (seven under with Cora, seven under with Tracy) June 24. <\/p>\n

And then, in the words of Craig Breslow, \u201cOur trajectory changed so much.\u201d <\/p>\n

Out of nowhere, these Red Sox have become the 1967 Red Sox. <\/p>\n

Playing under rookie skipper Dick Williams, those 100-1 long-shot Sox morphed into Cardiac Kids, transforming a moribund, black-and-white franchise into a vivid technicolor blockbuster in the Impossible Dream summer of baseball love. They made it all the way to the seventh game of the World Series. <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Boston ball club is also reminiscent of the 1988 Morgan Magic Sox<\/a>, who fired their manager on Bastille Day (July 14), then won 12 straight and 19 out of 20 under Walpole Joe Morgan. They rode the wave all the way to the AL East flag before losing to Oakland in the LCS. <\/p>\n

Both of those Sox favorites went on double-digit winning streaks under men who\u2019d never managed in the major leagues. Just like this year\u2019s team. <\/p>\n

The big difference this time is that the Sox of 2026 lack the star power of their favored Fenway forebears. The 1967 team had Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski winning a Triple Crown, Jim Lonborg copping the Cy Young, and the star power of Tony C, Ken Harrelson, George Scott, Rico Petrocelli, Smith, and Elston Howard. The 1988 Sox had Boggs, Roger Clemens, Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Bruce Hurst, Mike Boddicker, Mike Greenwell, Ellis Burks, and Lee Smith. <\/p>\n

The team we\u2019re watching now is loaded with great pitching but features a daily lineup dotted with overachieving WooSox pluggers named Monasterio, Seigler, and Sogard. Regular outfielder Jarren Duran<\/a> has been Mendoza-line-challenged all season. Five-foot-six-inch Durbin had to claw back from a wickedly poor start, and Sox catchers have been abysmal at the plate. Fenway\u2019s star-starved team ranked last in the majors in homers for a good part of the season. <\/p>\n

Not anymore. <\/p>\n

Now they are the hottest and best team in baseball (\u201dSay hello to the new American League pennant favorite,\u201d USA Today declared Wednesday) and much-maligned Breslow just traded a raft of top prospects for three-time All-Star, switch-hitting Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman<\/a>. A legitimate star. <\/p>\n

Love it. The Red Sox have rescued our baseball summer. Blessed with this unplanned and inadvertent surge, mindful of a weak American League, the Sox are all in. <\/p>\n

Full throttle, if you will. <\/p>\n

Mercy. <\/p>\n

\u22c5 Quiz: 1. Name three MLB players to hit 30 or more homers in their final season; 2. Name five NFL quarterbacks with 43 or more rushing touchdowns (answers below). <\/p>\n

\u22c5 Friends In High Places Dept.: If you have any doubt about the deep connection between Patriots owner Bob Kraft and President Trump, check out last weekend\u2019s massive New York Times Page 1 report: \u201cHow A Leading Law Firm Stopped Fighting Trump.\u201d The story describes the Patriots owner as a \u201cTrump ally\u201d who cleared the way for a meeting between the law firm\u2019s chairman and the president.<\/p>\n

\u22c5 Some nuggets on the farce of big-time college sports<\/a>: The Athletic reports that any college or university that aspires to make it to the NCAA basketball tournament now needs at least $10 million annually to pay players. SEC teams expect to spend $18 million per roster for the upcoming season. Switching to NCAA football, there are still several players on the Bluto \u201cseven-years-of-college-down-the-drain\u201d plan, including Colorado State defensive lineman Stephon Wright, who played four games for Herm Edwards\u2019s Arizona State team in 2019. Wright has since enrolled at SMU (five games in 2022), Texas Southern (10 games in 2024), and UConn (11 games last year). Meanwhile, Houston lineman Brandon Mark is also on the Bluto plan, having first played at Mississippi in 2019. Lastly, according to ESPN, JPMorgan Chase will pay Ohio State $17 million per season to get a corporate logo on Buckeye football jerseys and uniforms of all other Ohio State teams. <\/p>\n

\u22c5 Had a conversation with three-time AL batting champ George Brett in Cooperstown a couple of weeks back. Brett has strong thoughts about hitters who try to launch every pitch (\u201cWhat\u2019s so bad about a single to the opposite field?) and said, \u201cThat guy Luis Arraez on the Giants is a good example. He\u2019s a great, old-fashioned hitter and nobody thinks that\u2019s good anymore.\u201d On Monday Arraez \u2014 batting .324 \u2014 was traded<\/a> to the Phillies. He\u2019s on pace to win his fourth batting title with his fourth team, having already led his league while playing for the Twins, Marlins, and Padres.<\/p>\n

\"LuisLuis Arraez, who was hitting .324 at the time, was traded from the Giants to the Phillies.Matt Slocum\/AP Photo\/Matt Slocum<\/p>\n

\u22c5 Mookie Betts has officially played more games for the Dodgers than the Red Sox (816-794 entering Saturday). He\u2019s also won more World Series in Los Angeles<\/a> than in Boston, by a count of 3-1. Now close your eyes and try to imagine Mookie vs. the Sox in this year\u2019s Fall Classic at Fenway. This will be the Dodgers\u2019 14th consecutive postseason appearance, tying them with the Braves of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. No National League team has ever won three straight World Series. <\/p>\n

\u22c5 Baseball questions: 1. Did MLB release its 2027 regular-season schedule super early as some sort of passive-aggressive, preemptive message before what looks like certain disruption when the existing Basic Agreement between players and owners expires at the end of the World Series?; 2. Is Ken Griffey Jr. the greatest MLB player to never appear in a World Series?; 3. Did you know that Jonathan Papelbon never appeared on the injured list during his 12-year big league career. <\/p>\n

\u22c5 Wonder if the Red Sox will treat fans to a Rafael Devers appreciation when the Giants visit Fenway for a weekend series Aug. 21-23. <\/p>\n

\u22c5 The Angels \u2014 the only MLB team never to have lost 100 games in a season \u2014 entered Saturday with 71 losses and have a shot at the dubious 100. <\/p>\n

\u22c5 A friend who serves as an official scorer in the Florida Complex League reports that in a July 14 game<\/a> at JetBlue Park, the Fort Myers Red Sox defeated the Sarasota Orioles, 18-12, in 10 innings despite walking 24 batters! <\/p>\n

\u22c5 Can\u2019t decide who I\u2019m rooting for in the Deshaun Watson vs. Shedeur Sanders Cleveland Browns quarterback competition.<\/p>\n

\"ShedeurShedeur Sanders (left) and Deshaun Watson are in a competition to become the Browns’ starting quarterback.Nick Cammett\/Getty<\/p>\n

\u22c5 The personal collection of late legendary boxer and Brockton icon Marvin Hagler \u2014 including his championship belts and fight-worn trunks \u2014 is up for bid online in the Lelands Summer Classic auction between now and Aug. 15. To participate, visit Lelands.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u22c5 The Jaylen Brown fallout<\/a> will be with us for a long time. When Michelle Wu was asked about the impact JB had on our city at Boston\u2019s third annual Civic Summit at BU last weekend, the mayor said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about it. I\u2019m so heartbroken.\u201d Meanwhile, loyal Globe reader Christine Conroy-Kristeller checked in after a trip to Istanbul and reported that during a water tour of the Bosphorus Strait, \u201cwhen our Turkish tour guide learned that we were from Boston, his leading question was, \u2018Why did the Celtics trade Jaylen Brown?\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n

\u22c5 Congrats to BC High for landing top-shelf ex-Patriot Matthew Slater<\/a> as an assistant football coach. <\/p>\n

\u22c5 Former Red Sox shortstop Jose Iglesias will debut on Broadway in the role as narrator for the Tony Award-winning \u201cBuena Vista Social Club\u201d Aug. 27 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. He\u2019ll be the first Latino big leaguer to perform on Broadway. It represents a full circle for the flashy shortstop, who defected from Cuba and signed with the Red Sox at the age of 17 in 2009. Iglesias didn\u2019t speak much English when the Sox called him up in September 2011, but one of his first outings was a trip to see \u201cThe Lion King\u201d<\/a> on Broadway at the Minskoff Theatre when the Sox played at Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n

\"ShortstopShortstop Jose Iglesias didn\u2019t speak much English when the Red Sox called him up in September 2011.Jim Davis\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

\u22c5 Good to hear local media guy\/former Red Sox Lou Merloni with Orel Hershiser and Clayton Kershaw on NBC last Sunday night. <\/p>\n

\u22c5 Speaking of Lou, get ready for NESN and WEEI\u2019s best two days of the year when the networks broadcast their 25th annual Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon<\/a> Aug. 17 and 18 from Fenway Park. <\/p>\n

\u22c5 To mark the 12th anniversary of the Ice Bucket Challenge, Boston-based tech company NWN will host a special live read performance of a Pete Frates biopic written for the big screen by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge at Willowbend Aug. 17. Gary Tanguay will play Pete\u2019s dad, John Frates. The event is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

Alice Cook’s ALS Ice Bucket Challenge from 2015<\/p>\n

Former longtime WBZ-TV sports reporter Alice Cook, currently battling ALS, supported the Ice Bucket Challenge in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u22c5 Quiz answers: 1. David Ortiz (38, 2016 Red Sox)<\/a>, Kyle Seager (35, 2021 Mariners), Dave Kingman (35, 1986 Athletics); 2. Josh Allen (79), Cam Newton (75), Jalen Hurts (63), Otto Graham (44), Steve Young (43).<\/p>\n

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy<\/a>.<\/p>\n