No Sunny Skies for Sonny Gray & The Red Sox

 

(Screenshot of Boston Red Sox pitcher Sonny Gray following Game 2 of the 2026 AL Wild Card Series)

There is considerable frustration among the Boston Red Sox and Red Sox Nation follow a sweep in the AL Wild Card by the New York Yankees. 

In my commentary on the series last night, I briefly alluded Red Sox manager Chad Tracy pulling both Game 1 and Game 2 starters Peyton Tolle and Sonny Gray before the end of the fifth inning and the bullpen not rising to the occasion.

It turns out Tracy's decisions, especially in last night's game, proved very unpopular with Red Sox players. Following their elimination, it was clear there were no sunny skies for Sonny Gray:

I think I’m the best pitcher in the American League going through the order the third time. I think that’s a fact. Yeah, I would have liked to live or die with me in that moment but that’s the competitor I am. I think you can probably ask the guys, and they feel the same way. I felt strong, I felt confident, I felt convicted, but what can you do?

I would have liked to have been trusted in that moment.

I don't blame Gray for his cloudy outlook on what was the brightest season of his 14-year MLB career. Gray, who turns 37 next month, posted a career high 18 wins and a career best 2.72 ERA in 29 starts with the Red Sox this season. 

Gray is evidently considering retiring. But if he does return to the mound in 2027, I cannot see him pitching in a Red Sox uniform given his public rebuke of Tracy.

Meanwhile, Red Sox slugger Willson Contreras seemed to take aim at the Red Sox front office led by Craig Breslow:

It's not enough when you have talent, or you have data, or you have computers that are telling you what to do, because this is baseball. The data is here to help us, but at the end of the day, you're going to have to need experience and veteran guys to win games.

Writing for CBS Sports, Julian McWilliams wrote, "Don't be fooled by the summer surge. Don't be fooled by the progress. This season wasn't a success."

However, McWilliams does not define success. Now if success constitutes winning the World Series, then 29 out of 30 teams will have had unsuccessful seasons. But if that is the criteria then there is no difference between a team which makes the post-season and a team which loses 100 games. 

In the space of five weeks, the Red Sox went from the worst record in the AL to claiming an AL Wild Card berth. That is certainly successful even if post-season success was elusive. Of course, what dampens the spirits is the fact the Red Sox have been ousted in back-to-back years by the Yankees.

As such, there will be considerable cloudiness hovering over Fenway through this off-season. Hopefully, things will thaw by spring and perhaps Chad Tracy and whoever is part of the 2027 Red Sox can move past. But if the Red Sox get off to a slow start in 2027, Tracy might end up wearing Alex Cora's shoes three-year contract be damned.