Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras (40) tags out San Francisco Giants’ Rafael Devers, left, at first during the fifth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)
Mary Schwalm/Associated Press
BOSTON — When the Giants acquired Rafael Devers from the Red Sox last year, the move was supposed to push San Francisco even closer to the Dodgers, maybe even beyond, transforming a good team into a sure-fire contender.
Boston appeared to be heading the other way, and at the start of this season, without Devers and with his replacement at third, Alex Bregman, also gone, the Red Sox looked woeful. They were 32-46 on June 24, in last place and 15½ games out of first in the AL East.
The Giants went 81-81 last year, failing to make the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, and like Boston, they got off to a poor start — much more unexpectedly so. On June 24, they were 33-46, a half-game better than Boston, and 18 games out.
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And then the Red Sox ripped through July, going 21-4, somehow discovering something the Giants never could: momentum. To date, San Francisco has yet to win four consecutive games. Boston won 15 in a row at one point.
What is the difference between these two clubs, which looked so much as if they were going opposite ways — the other direction — after the Devers deal?
This year’s trade between the Red Sox and Giants is instructive: Boston moved one of the game’s most highly touted prospects, infielder Marcelo Mayer, who by all accounts profiles as a player who should have a long and successful big-league career if healthy, for a reliever, Erik Miller. Set-up men, as Miller himself said this week, do not usually bring back such big returns.
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And that’s one major difference: Boston has prioritized its bullpen, adding a good lefty to a group that includes one of the most fearsome closers in the game, Aroldis Chapman. The Red Sox’s bullpen has a big-league best 2.92 ERA and a major-league low nine blown saves. Over the past 44 games going into Sunday, the group was 15-3 with 17 saves and a 2.00 ERA.
“If you’re winning a lot of games in a row, you’re probably going to be winning games that are close and that’s easier to do when you have an elite bullpen,” Miller said. “So that’s definitely not a coincidence.
“I knew that the bullpen here was good, but I didn’t know it was the best bullpen in baseball. I was like, ‘OK, wow.’ That’s how much they’re leaning into, they’re fully all in. I think they understand what wins games in October.”
The Giants’ bullpen has a 4.25 ERA and has blown 20 saves. Since the start of July, the relievers have a 4.20 ERA and 10 blown saves. Boston’s bullpen has blown two saves in that time.
“An elite bullpen makes decisions a little bit cleaner, a little bit easier,” Boston pitching coach Andrew Bailey said. “It shortens games, and of course it’s fun.”
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It’s tough to sustain momentum without a reliable bullpen, and it was evident before the season that the Giants had not done enough to fortify things, adding Jason Foley and Sam Hentges, both rehabbing from shoulder surgery and unavailable until close to midseason. By that point, the team was fairly well out of it. The Giants have cycled through closers: Ryan Walker, Caleb Kilian, briefly Keaton Winn and now rookie Dylan Smith, who’s had the most success.
“There’s no hiding from the fact we’ve had trouble in the ninth inning, and it’s going to be something we address,” general manager Zack Minasian said, pointing to some bright spots such as Smith and Winn. “But really, there’s no aspect of the team you don’t try to improve.”
The Red Sox, meanwhile, were whirring in all aspects from midseason on.
“At one point, they won 27 of 30,” Minasian said. “You don’t win at that rate without everything clicking. Things can change quickly and it doesn’t mean some of our arms can’t take a bigger step forward next year and be a part of a really good bullpen.”
How, then, do the Giants find momentum? It’s a nebulous concept, sure. No one has a sure-fire recipe.
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“It’s anyone’s guess as to how and why you gain that,” Minasian said. “I think some tough late losses can really kill momentum, and that’s probably been something that’s bit us more times than obviously we would have liked. But I’ve always heard this line from veteran scouts, ‘Momentum’s as good as the next day’s starting pitcher,’ so it’s really tough to pinpoint.”
Remaining positive is always a good approach, Minasian said, and here the Red Sox really shine, especially since Chad Tracy took over after Alex Cora and much of his staff were fired. On Saturday, the entire Boston team gathered around to watch staff members — all wearing Red Sox unis, even a venerable clubhouse manager — raced around the bases, some wiping out, some missing the plate, some plodding, to determine fantasy-draft orders. Everyone had a ball.
In addition, Tracy has cut back on some pregame workload, setting later clubhouse times than many managers, with more “show-and-go” with no batting practice, for instance.
“What Trace brings to the table is just a different energy — nothing good, bad, just different from what Alex brought,” Bailey said. “We get a lot of late reports throughout the course of this season, 4 o’clock reports for home games, late buses on the road. I don’t think we’ve taken BP on the field in three months. There is a lot of communication and hearing what the players are thinking and wanting and also trying to maximize recovery and just readiness to go play a game.”
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, under fire for some of his moves last year, comes in for some praise for putting the team together and for making what has turned out to be a well-timed staff overhaul.
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“As far as the success the team has had on the field over the last couple of months, I think the players deserve a ton of credit for that and I think Chad Tracy and the rest of the staff do as well,” Breslow said. “The team has really found its identity and has come together, they are playing with a lot of confidence and belief in each other and that’s manifested as putting a lot of pressure on opposing teams, on consistently pitching and playing good defense and running the bases aggressively.
“It’s been really fun to watch from my seat and I hope that it can continue.”