The 2026 Major League Baseball season hasn’t started how the Boston Red Sox likely hoped.
Boston is 1-3 through four games. The Red Sox won on Opening Day against the Cincinnati Reds, but have now lost three straight games. Over the last three games, Boston has only mustered up eight total runs. Boston scored five runs in the second game of the season against Cincinnati, but lost in extra innings. The Red Sox concluded their first series of the season with a 3-2 loss against the Reds on Sunday. On Monday, the Red Sox were blown out by the Houston Astros, 8-1.
The biggest question around the Red Sox heading into the season was whether Boston would be able to score runs. The rotation entered the season with the expectation of potentially being the best rotation in baseball. But what about the offense? So far, the Red Sox are tied for 19th in the league with just three homers and are 25th in the league with just 11 total runs scored.
The Red Sox are going to be just fine
Mar 26, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet (35) pitches against the Cincinnati Reds in the sixth inning at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images | Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
This is a very small sample size, but the offensive questions have been valid so far in the young campaign. Also, the rotation — specifically the new additions — haven’t been great so far. Sonny Gray allowed three earned runs and four total runs across four innings pitched in his first start of the season. Ranger Suárez allowed four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings pitched on Monday. Johan Oviedo came in relief of Suárez on Monday and allowed four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings pitched. Again, small sample size, but not great so far.
Because of this, it’s not shocking that ESPN’s MLB experts unsurprisingly tabbed the Red Sox among the top five most “polarizing” teams in baseball right now, along with the Milwaukee Brewers, Astros, Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
ESPN has Boston ranked as the No. 9 overall team in baseball right now. Three experts tabbed this ranking too low for Boston and 13 called it too high for Boston. This is going to be the story of the season for Boston and it’s because of these big roster questions coming into the season. Boston has done a good job so far balancing the playing time of the outfielders, but the roster isn’t necessarily optimized, as shown by Masataka Yoshida really not having a clear path to playing time. Plus, if you do put Yoshida in, then that means either Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu or Jarren Duran is sitting.
So far we’ve seen two really good pitching performances from Garrett Crochet and Connelly Early, but two not-so-good ones from Gray and Suárez.
So, what is this team going to be? It’s far too early to know, but that’s the nature in professional sports. Things move quickly and topics are always changing on a day-to-day basis. This early start to the season and the fact that experts are split on the team does force a quick reality check. But, the club shouldn’t worry yet. The talent is there to contend. This is just a blip on the radar of the 162-game marathon of a season.
Arguably, the Red Sox are going to be fine. The hurlers are too good to not figure it out and the sample size is too small to truly judge the offense. But when you lose a guy like Alex Bregman, it leads to a lot of eyeballs on the organization. So, it’s not shocking that the Red Sox have a lot of attention right now. But, there isn’t a reason for concern yet.