As bad as things have been on the field for the Boston Red Sox in 2026, it’s been just as bad when it comes to travel. However, maybe it’s what they needed to turn their season around.
Back in June, after dropping two out of three to the lowly Colorado Rockies in Denver, the Red Sox had plane issues. They were scheduled to return home and host the New York Yankees for a four-game series beginning the next night.
Instead of using it as an excuse, they swept their heated rivals. That has begun a stretch in which Boston is playing its way back into the American League wild-card race. After sweeping the Chicago White Sox for their sixth straight win on Thursday, the Red Sox once again ran into plane trouble. Nearly 24 hours after they were supposed to head to New York to play the Mets beginning on Friday night, Boston landed just a couple of hours before first pitch. It didn’t matter, again.
Boston Red Sox Ride Sonny Gray To Win Over the New York Mets
It would have been easy to chalk this one up as a loss. Travel troubles, landing just a couple of before first pitch? Yeah, the writing was on the wall. Instead, Boston scored two runs in the top of the first and rode the right arm of Sonny Gray to a 6-2 victory. In six innings, the veteran scattered five hits and allowed one run, walking one and striking out three.
“He’s a pro,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. “As soon as he walked in here, he sat down with (catcher Connor Wong) and started going over the hitters. He locked in.”
Gray improved to 11-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.54. Somehow, right now, he isn’t an American League All-Star. That can change if someone backs out before the game begins, but for now, he’s the best AL pitcher not going to Philadelphia. It didn’t go lost on him when the teams were announced on July 4.
I was disappointed, a little bummed, for sure,” Gray said, per ESPN. “I’m just being honest, you know? I’m happy for Ranger and I’m happy for Chappy, for sure. They’re very well-deserving. But a little selfishly, yeah, I was disappointed.”
Boston Red Sox Rolling Into the All-Star Break
Once looking like a clear seller at the August 3 trade deadline, that is quietly changing for Boston Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow. All of a sudden, the Red Sox are just 1.5 games back of the final AL wild-card spot. They have to clear four teams in the standings, but there is a lot of baseball left.
“The vibe in there is great,” said Tracy, per MLB.com. “The connectivity with them is great, so they’re playing good baseball.”
Boston has two games left against the struggling Mets before the break. They have won seven games in a row and 10 out of their last 12. They are finding different ways to win games, and right now, are rallying around the travel issues they have been dealt with recently. Not even planes can slow them down now.
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