After finishing with more than 100 losses for the third straight season, the Chicago White Sox hit paydirt on Tuesday by landing the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming 2026 MLB Draft.
The Red Sox will receive the No. 20 pick.
The White Sox had the best odds to land the top pick at 27.73%. They will be followed by the Tampa Bay Rays, who will pick No. 2 despite having just 3.03% odds in the lottery.
The Minnesota Twins will pick third, the San Francisco Giants fourth, the Pittsburgh Pirates fifth and Kansas City Royals sixth to round out the lottery selections. The Giants and Royals each had barely a 1% chance to move up entering the day.
The Colorado Rockies, who had the worst record in MLB at 43-119, were ineligible for the lottery because they received lottery picks in back-to-back drafts. The Rockies will instead pick No. 10.
The Red Sox finished with the ninth best record in MLB this past season after going 89-73, good for third in the AL East and a spot in the AL Wild Card round, which would normally correspond to the No. 21 pick. But the Red Sox moved up a spot because the New York Mets had their top pick moved back 10 spots due to their exceeding the third (and fourth) Competitive Balance Tax thresholds with a payroll of more than $341 million.
The Blue Jays, Dodgers, Phillies and Yankees all had their top picks moved back 10 spots as well.
The No. 20 pick is the lowest the Red Sox have selected in the first round since 2022, when the club selected Mikey Romero at No. 24 overall. That year the Red Sox also drafted Roman Anthony with the No. 79 pick using a compensatory pick acquired after losing Eduardo Rodriguez in free agency.
The full list of confirmed first-round selections are as follows.
2026 MLB Draft Order
1. Chicago White Sox
2. Tampa Bay Rays
3. Minnesota Twins
4. San Francisco Giants
5. Pittsburgh Pirates
6. Kansas City Royals
7. Baltimore Orioles
8. Athletics
9. Atlanta Braves
10. Colorado Rockies
11. Washington Nationals
12. Los Angeles Angels
13. St. Louis Cardinals
14. Miami Marlins
15. Arizona Diamondbacks
16. Texas Rangers
17. Houston Astros
18. Cincinnati Reds
19. Cleveland Guardians
20. Boston Red Sox
21. San Diego Padres
22. Detroit Tigers
23. Chicago Cubs
24. Seattle Mariners
25. Milwaukee Brewers