The team re-signed outfielder Jarren Duran to a one-year, $7.7m contract for 2026 after declining the option on his prior contract. Shortstop Trevor Story opted in to the remaining two years of his contract to remain with the team.

Brennan Bernardino was traded to the Colorado Rockies for minor league outfielder Braiden Ward on November 18th. The team traded pitchers Brandon Clarke and Richard Fitts to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Sonny Gray and cash on November 25th. They traded minor league prospects Jhostynxon García and Jesus Travieso to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Johan Oviedo, Tyler Samaniego and Adonys Guzman on December 4th. On December 21st, the Sox traded pitcher Hunter Dobbins and minor league pitching prospects to the St. Louis Cardinals for first baseman Willson Contreras. They also signed Isiah Kiner‑Falefa to a one‑year contract and claimed infielder Tsung‑Che Cheng. Days later, the team completed a deal with Milwaukee, sending Kyle Harrison, Shane Drohan, and David Hamilton to the Brewers for Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler, and a draft pick.

Connor Wong signed a one-year, $1.3m contract for 2026 to avoid arbitration.

The winter was less about splash than steady roster engineering. The biggest early swing came on January 21st, when Ranger Suárez agreed to a five‑year, $150 million deal.

As camp unfolded, the Red Sox trimmed steadily, optioning or reassigning nearly every NRI in waves. The final notable addition came March 12th, when the Sox signed lefty Danny Coulombe. Tommy Kahnle arrived late on a minor‑league deal.

The Sox opened in Cincinnati on March 26th and took them down 3-0. Garrett Crochet allowed only three hits in six innings, Ceddanne Rafaela hit an RBI single in the seventh inning and the Red Sox got their first opening day shutout since 2015. Roman Anthony had three hits for the Red Sox. Crochet struck out six and walked two en route to his first victory in an opener. The Red Sox added a pair of runs in the ninth on RBI singles by Trevor Story and Jarren Duran.
 

In Houston, the Sox lost the next three games. The Red Sox only crossed home plate seven times during their three games. Despite the additions of defense-focused infielders this offseason, the Red Sox had twice as many errors (six) through five games than they had last year. They struck out 64 times in six games and had a .211 batting average as a team. The Sox had a 4.91 ERA as a team, which hardly reflected their run prevention-focus. The Red Sox allowed 11 home runs and hit six.

Fueled by a pair of homers from Marcelo Mayer and Willson Contreras, the Red Sox snapped their five-game losing skid on April 3rd, defeating Xander Bogaerts and the Padres, 5-2, in their home opener at Fenway Park.he Sox benefited from a bounce-back start from Sonny Gray (6 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 earned runs). Sox pitchers limited San Diego to just four total hits in the victory.

But then the Sox lost the next two games to the Padres and the first game of the series with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Then on April 7th, Trevor Story lined a two-run double in the sixth as the Red Sox overcame 11 strikeouts to beat the Brewers 3-2 to  end the three-game skid. Garrett Crochet struck out seven, who won for just the third time in 11 games this season and avoided a 2-9 start, which has happened only four times in franchise history, most recently in 2011. Crochet allowed two runs on five hits in 6 1/3 innings with two walks and a hit batter. Aroldis Chapman picked up his third save with a scoreless ninth.

A 5-0 victory over the Brewers on April 8th, gave the Sox their first series win of the season, after losing six games by two runs or fewer start the season. Sonny Gray tossed 6 1/3 scoreless frames to put them in prime position. The Sox took a patient approach against the Brewers, walking a total of eight times and making Milwaukee throw 146 pitches spread over four pitchers.

Most of the game with the Cardinals on April 11th, was relatively typical for the 2026 Red Sox, getting chances here and there but not enough to feel like the offense was clicking. But the Sox turned up the heat in a major way, rattling off five runs in the top of the ninth inning to pad their 2-1 lead, winning 7 to 1. Willson Contreras stepped up and showed his offensive capabilities, going 2 for 4 at the plate with 3 RBIs. Caleb Durbin got two RBIs as well, finally breaking through after a trying first few weeks as a Red Sox. Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela each added an RBI as well, so it was a true team effort in the lineup. But it was starting pitcher Ranger Suarez who set the tone in the first six frames with his first strong and quality start of the season. Not only did the left-hander throw six innings, but they were six shutout innings.

WILLSON CONTRERAS

Willson Contreras homered against his former team and matched a career high with four hits, leading the Red Sox past the Cardinals 9-3 on April 12th. Trevor Story also had four hits. Contreras launched a two-run shot in the second inning and finished with three RBIs.

On April 13th. Garrett Crochet had a night to forget in Minneapolis. He didn’t even make it out of the second inning against the Twins, submitting the worst start of his big-league career at Target Field. By the time Alex Cora came out of the dugout to take the ball out of Crochet’s hands, he had only recorded five outs — and put the Sox in an insurmountable 11-run deficit.

Them aftering the first two games to the Twins, Connelly Early righted the ship on April 15th. He gave up one run, two hits and two walks with five strikeouts over six innings, the longest of his eight major league starts. Trevor Story homered and drove in five runs to lead the Red Sox over the Twins 9-5. Andruw Monasterio had three of the 13 hits.

Back at Fenway on April 17th, after nine full innings of scoreless baseball, the Red Sox finally got a scoring chance in the bottom of the 10th inning. Jarren Duran started the frame on second, and the moment he saw an opening, he stole third base to threaten Detroit with zero outs. Alex Cora instead called on Masataka Yoshida to pinch hit with one out. His only at-bat on was a memorable one. Masa sent a ball into the dirt with so much force that it bounced over the entire infield. That was all Duran needed to cross home plate standing and give the Red Sox a 1-0 win. Ranger Suarez tossed eight shutout innings in what ended up being a pitching duel. The left-hander allowed just two hits (both in the first inning) and one walk, striking out four and recording as many swings-and-misses along the way.

The Yankees came to Fenway and buried the Sox in three straight games. The Sox .338 slugging percentage is the second-worst in MLB, ahead of only the utterly dejected and desperate New York Mets. Seven Red Sox got on base against the Yankees and none scored — maybe they could've if the Red Sox had an ounce of power in their lineup. Every alarm over the Red Sox's offense is souding. They've scored two runs or less in four of their last five games, their worst offensive streak of the season so far. The Yankees exploited their every weakness — they seemingly have no offensive strengths as a team during this series, as if their confidence could stand to be crushed any more.

The problem the Sox had followed them down to Baltimore. Brayan Bello gave up numerous home runs on the first meeting on April 24th. But the next day behind Garrett Crochet, the Sox bats came alive in a 17-1 beat down of the Orioles. Andruw Monasterio hit a grand slam as part of a 10-run ninth inning. Willson Contreras added a three-run homer and Caleb Durbin a two-run shot in the frame. When the ninth was finally over, the Sox had scored more runs in one inning than it had managed in its first 26 games. Garrett Crochet (3-3) struck out seven over six shutout innings, the first four coming while the game was still competitive. Two starts after the ugliest outing of his Red Sox career, Crochet looked every bit the Sox ace.

But After an underwhelming start to the 2026 season, the Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora, along with the vast majority of his coaching staff after thye game. Former WooSox manager Chad Tracy took over as the interim manager.

On April 26th, Connelly Early (2-1) allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings in the rubber game victory for the Sox, 5 to 3. Ceddanne Rafaela, Marcelo Mayer and Andruw Monasterio also had RBI hits to help Chad Tracy get a win in his MLB managerial debut.

Ranger Suárez and Greg Weissert combined on a two-hitter, Carlos Narváez hit a solo home run and the Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0, on April 27th. Suárez (2-2) struck out 10 and walked one, matching a season high by going eight innings. He held the Blue Jays without a hit until the sixth. He set down the final nine batters he faced before Weissert finished