The Boston Red Sox had their 2025 season come to an end with a Wild Card series loss to the Yankees. The 2026 season will start on Wednesday. The season starts with the Giants and Yankees facing off, while the rest of the league starts Thursday. The Red Sox start with a series in Cincinnati against the Reds.
They will face each team in their division 13 times. They will face the remaining American League teams at home and on the road. In the National League, they face the Reds, Cardinals, Rockies, Mets, Dodgers, Pirates, and Marlins on the road. They face the Padres, Brewers, Phillies, Nationals, Diamondbacks, Giants, and Cubs at home. They face the Braves on the road and at home. When the Giants return on August 21-23, it’ll be Rafael Devers’s first time back since being traded last season.
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Offseason Moves
Additions:
RHP – Sonny Gray (Trade)
RHP – Johan Oviedo (Trade)
1B – Willson Contreras (Trade)
LHP – Ranger Suarez (5 year/$150 million)
INF – Isiah Kiner-Falefa (1-year)
3B – Caleb Durbin (Trade)
2B – Andruw Monasterio (Trade)
LHP – Danny Coulombe (1-year)
RHP – Tommy Kahnle (minor-league deal)
Subtractions:
3B – Alex Bregman – Cubs
RHP – Richard Fitts – Cardinals
INF – Vaughn Grissom – Angels
RHP – Hunter Dobbins – Cardinals
RHP – Jordan Hicks – White Sox
LHP – Kyle Harrison – Brewers
INF – David Hamilton – Brewers
Offense
2026 Projected Lineup
DH – Roman Anthony
SS – Trevor Story
LF – Jarren Duran
1B – Willson Conteras
RF – Wilyer Abreu
3B – Caleb Durbin
2B – Marcelo Mayer
CF – Ceddanne Rafaela
C – Carlos Narvaez
The Red Sox will miss the bat of Alex Bregman this season. They did, however, get a power bat at first base with the addition of Willson Contreras, who will love hitting with the Green Monster. They’ll also get a full season of Roman Anthony, who got a taste of playoff-like baseball this spring playing in the World Baseball Classic. The addition of Caleb Durbin will also be beneficial for them. He hit 11 home runs and had 25 doubles for the Brewers last season. He’s another right-handed bat that can help the Red Sox lineup, and he’s only 26 and finished third in National League Rookie of the Year voting last season.
That’s not including Masataka Yoshida on the bench and, at some point, Tristan Casas returning as well. The offense may take a step back a little bit, but it still has some solid pieces and can get this team to the playoffs.
Pitching
Starters
LHP – Garrett Crochet
LHP – Ranger Suarez
RHP – Sonny Gray
RHP – Brayan Bello
RHP – Johan Oviedo
The rotation is the strength of this team. The face of having someone like Brayan Bello as the number four starter shows the talent this team has. Garrett Crochet is a favorite to win the American League Cy Young this season. The additions of Suarez and Gray will be big. Gray went 14-8 last year for a bad Cardinals team, while Suarez went 12-8. Gray posted a 4.28 ERA and a 3.39 FIP, while Suarez had a 3.20 ERA and a 3.21 FIP. If the Red Sox get Sonny Gray from 2023 they’ll be in great shape. The big question comes from Oviedo, who has made 67 starts in his career. He’s 15-26 in his career with a 4.24 ERA and a 4.61 FIP. This spring, however, he’s looked like he could be something special for the rotation, making four starts, going 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA, a 1.24 WHIP, and 14 strikeouts in 11.1 innings.
Bullpen
LHP – Aroldis Chapman
RHP – Garrett Whitlock
RHP – Greg Weissert
LHP – Connellly Early
LHP – Danny Coulombe
RHP – Zack Kelly
RHP – Justin Slaten
LHP – Payton Tolle
The bullpen, if it’s slated as above, gives Alex Cora a slew of arms to choose from. Those arms can be dangerous for this team. It also allows them, if Oviedo struggles to start the season the option of moving Early or Tolle to the rotation and Oviedo to the bullpen. The back-end will be hard to beat with Weissert, Whitlock, and Chapman. Teams will have to score early against the Red Sox because they could be a problem with this staff late in games.
2026 Outlook
The Red Sox should make the playoffs for the second consecutive season. They can certainly contend for the division, but they also play in the hardest division in all of baseball, the American League East. It’ll be a dog fight this season with other teams in the division looking better on paper, but make no mistake, this team makes October, anything can happen with the Red Sox.
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