The Boston Red Sox fell to the Tampa Bay Rays 6-1 on Sunday afternoon to drop the series at Tropicana Field. However, shortly after the conclusion of Sunday’s game, celebrations were underway as, thanks to the Atlanta Braves 4-2 victory over the Houston Astros, the Red Sox have clinched a playoff berth, marking the first time the team has made the postseason in consecutive years since 2016-2018, when they made three straight appearances. 

It's been a rollercoaster of a regular season for the Red Sox. On April 25, with the team sitting at 10-17, ownership made the shocking decision to fire the third-winningest manager in franchise history, Alex Cora, and six members of his major league coaching staff, including team Hall of Famer Jason Varitek. The team appointed little-known Triple-A manager Chad Tracy as the interim manager. 

Things seemed to hit rock bottom on June 24, as the Red Sox fell to the Colorado Rockies 8-6, dropping to the bottom of the American League with a 32-46 record and playoff odds of just 9.4 percent. 

However, whatever happened on that flight back to Boston turned the tide on the season as the Red Sox returned to Fenway Park and kicked off a historic hot streak that saw the team go 32-5 in their next 37, including an incredible 27-4 mark in July that set a franchise record for the highest winning percentage in a single month, propelling them into the playoff picture. 

According to Red Sox Nation Stats on Twitter/X, the 2026 Red Sox became the first American League team to lose 46 of its first 81 games and reach the postseason, joining the 1973 Mets as the only two teams to accomplish the feat. 

Well, as has been the case since the Aug. 30 blowout loss to the New York Yankees, the Red Sox are most likely heading to the Bronx for a three-game wild card series against those same Yankees that gets underway on Sept. 29. 

Until then, though, the Red Sox will look to get key contributors, like Ceddanne Rafalea, Willson Contreras, and Garrett Crochet, healthy as they play out the final six games of the regular season. 

They'll be on off on Monday before welcoming the Cleveland Guardians, who will be looking to secure their own spot in the postseason, to Fenway Park for a three-game set that gets underway on Tuesday night. Payton Tolle (9-6, 3.02 ERA), who is now on track to be on six days of rest for game one of the playoffs, will get the start for Boston opposite fellow rookie left-hander Parker Messick (12-9, 2.57 ERA) for Cleveland. First pitch is set for 6:45 p.m. ET.