The Boston Red Sox left Tropicana Field on Sunday afternoon with another frustrating loss. A few hours later, they were headed to the playoffs.
Boston officially secured an American League wild-card berth when the Atlanta Braves defeated the Houston Astros 4-2. The result punched the Red Sox’s postseason ticket despite their 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
The celebration arrived in an unusual way. Interim manager Chad Tracy did not care.
“You just want to see your ticket get punched,” Tracy said, according to MLB.com.
The Red Sox did much more than qualify for October. They completed a turnaround unlike anything previously accomplished in Major League Baseball history.
Red Sox Complete Remarkable Recovery
Boston opened the season with a 32-46 record. The Red Sox became the first team to reach the postseason and finish above .500 after losing at least 32 of their first 78 games.
Boston went 52-26 after reaching its low point. The turnaround began in late June when the Red Sox swept four games from the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. Boston then won 15 consecutive games in July, matching the franchise record established by the 1946 Red Sox.
That was not the team’s only extended run. Boston followed with another nine-game winning streak and completed the best 30-game stretch in franchise history. The Red Sox went 32-5 from June 25 through Aug. 7, transforming a lost season into a legitimate playoff run.
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Tracy deserves significant credit for keeping the season together after replacing Alex Cora in April. The Red Sox also survived significant injuries, prolonged offensive slumps and a difficult second half of September. They clinched their postseason spot after losing two of three games in Tampa Bay, but the manner in which the ticket was punched hardly diminishes the accomplishment.
Boston entered Sunday night as the American League’s No. 5 seed. That position would likely send the Red Sox to Yankee Stadium for a best-of-three wild-card series beginning Sept. 29.
A postseason rematch with New York would provide a fitting next chapter.
The Yankees eliminated Boston in three games last October. The Red Sox now have an opportunity to erase that disappointment after producing one of the most unlikely playoff seasons in franchise history.
Boston’s road back to October was neither simple nor predictable.
It is now complete.
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