2026 Boston Red Sox season


The 2026 Boston Red Sox season is the upcoming 126th season in Boston Red Sox franchise history, and their 115th season at Fenway Park. Alex Cora is expected to return for the sixth season of his second stint as the team's on-field manager. The team is scheduled to open the regular season in an away game against the Cincinnati Reds on March 26, and conclude with a home game against the Chicago Cubs on September 27.

Offseason

At the conclusion of the 2025 season, the Red Sox had 11 players under contract for the 2026 season: Roman Anthony, Brayan Bello, Kristian Campbell, Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Crochet, Jarren Duran, Jordan Hicks, Ceddanne Rafaela, Patrick Sandoval, Garrett Whitlock, and Masataka Yoshida. Four players had contract options and/or opt-outs, four players were eligible to become free agents, nine players were eligible for arbitration, and an additional 22 players were not yet eligible for arbitration due to their limited service time in MLB, and could therefore be retained by the team for the league-minimum salary or released.
DateRoster moveRef.
October 3The team recalled Chris Murphy from Worcester, and activated Roman Anthony, Brennan Bernardino, Isaiah Campbell, Kristian Campbell, Cooper Criswell, José De León, Richard Fitts, Jhostynxon García, Lucas Giolito, Jordan Hicks, Dustin May, Jovani Morán, and Luis Perales from Worcester, the 10-day injured list, or the 15-day injured list.
October 10The team signed free agents Sebastian Rondon, Steven Garcia, Hicter Ruiz, and Cristopher Silvestre to minor league contracts.
October 13The team dismissed Ben Rosenthal as assistant hitting coach.
October 16The team sent Isaiah Campbell and José De León outright to Worcester.
October 23The team hired John Soteropulos as assistant hitting coach.
October 27The team signed free agent Jason Delay to a minor league contract.
November 2Pitchers Steven Matz, Dustin May, and Justin Wilson, and outfielder Rob Refsnyder, each elected free agency.
November 3Third baseman Alex Bregman opted out of his contract and pitcher Lucas Giolito's mutual option was declined, resulting in both players becoming free agents.
November 4The team re-signed outfielder Jarren Duran to a one-year, $7.7m contract for 2026 after declining the option on his prior contract. Shortstop Trevor Story opted in to the remaining two years of his contract to remain with the team, and the team declined their mutual option for pitcher Liam Hendriks, making him a free agent.
November 6The team activated Triston Casas, Kutter Crawford, Hunter Dobbins, Vaughn Grissom, Tanner Houck, Marcelo Mayer, Patrick Sandoval, and Josh Winckowski from the 60-day injured list, and to clear room on the 40-man roster, the team designated Luis Guerrero for assignment. The team re-signed pitcher Cooper Criswell to a one-year major league contract for 2026.
November 18The team designated Josh Winckowski and Nathaniel Lowe for assignment, selected Shane Drohan, David Sandlin, and Tyler Uberstine to the Red Sox roster from Worcester, and completed a series of trades: Luis Guerrero was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for infielder Tristan Gray, Brennan Bernardino was traded to the Colorado Rockies for minor league outfielder Braiden Ward, Chris Murphy was traded to the Chicago White Sox for minor league catcher Ronny Hernandez, and minor league pitcher Alex Hoppe was traded to the Seattle Mariners for minor league catcher Luke Heyman.
November 20The team re-signed catcher Connor Wong to a one-year, $1.3m contract for 2026 to avoid arbitration.
November 21The team tendered contracts to all 26 remaining unsigned players on the major league roster, excluding Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Winckowski, who became free agents.
November 25The team traded pitchers Brandon Clarke and Richard Fitts to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Sonny Gray and cash.
December 4The team designated pitcher Cooper Criswell for assignment, and traded minor league prospects Jhostynxon García and Jesus Travieso to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Johan Oviedo, Tyler Samaniego and Adonys Guzman.
December 9The team traded Vaughn Grissom to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for outfield prospect Isaiah Jackson.
December 10The team traded minor league prospect Justin Riemer to the Athletics for minor league pitcher Ryan Watson. Watson was originally a Rule V selection from the Giants.
December 15The team traded minor league pitcher Luis Perales to the Washington Nationals for minor league pitcher Jake Bennett.
December 21The team traded pitcher Hunter Dobbins and minor league pitching prospects Yhoiker Fajardo and Blake Aita to the St. Louis Cardinals for first baseman Willson Contreras.
December 30Infielders Marcelo Mayer and Nate Eaton changed their player numbers to 11 and 18, respectively.

DateRoster moveRef.
January 6The team signed free agent pitcher T.J. Sikkema to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training, and further announced Osvaldo Berrios, Vinny Capra, Jason Delay, Alec Gamboa, Hobie Harris, and Devin Sweet as non-roster invitees to spring training. Boston also avoided arbitration with Kutter Crawford, signing him to a one year contract for $2.75 million.
January 9The team reached one-year agreements with their four remaining arbitration-eligible players, avoiding arbitration.
January 21The team traded infielder Tristan Gray to the Minnesota Twins for minor league catcher Nate Baez.
January 23The team announced Nate Baez, Allan Castro, Max Ferguson, Tayron Guerrero, Nathan Hickey, Seth Martinez, Tyler McDonough, Wyatt Olds, Ronald Rosario, Mikey Romero, Noah Song, Braiden Ward, Jacob Webb, and Jeremy Wu-Yelland as non-roster invitees to Spring Training.
January 31The team signed free agent catcher Matt Thaiss to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training. Thaiss previously made 60 major league appearances with the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays in 2025.
February 1The team traded pitcher Jordan Hicks and pitching prospect David Sandlin to the Chicago White Sox, as well as two players to be named later, in exchange for minor league pitcher Gage Ziehl and a player to be named later. The trade included the Red Sox providing Chicago with $8 million in cash, and in turn the White Sox agreed to cover the remaining $16 million of Hicks' $24 million contract.

Spring training

The Red Sox' first spring training game will be an exhibition contest against the Northeastern Huskies at Fenway South, scheduled for February 20. The team's Grapefruit League schedule will run from February 21 through March 24, and will include a game on March 3 against Puerto Rico as one of Puerto Rico's friendly preparation games ahead of the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

2026 World Baseball Classic

The World Baseball Classic, an international baseball tournament held every four years, is next scheduled to take place from March 5–March 17, 2026. Due to the dates for the World Baseball Classic coinciding with MLB's spring training schedule, the following Red Sox players will not be taking part in spring training as confirmed WBC participants:
PlayerPositionNational teamSource
Wilyer AbreuOutfielder
Brayan BelloPitcher
Jarren DuranOutfielder

Game log

Red Sox WinRed Sox LossGame postponedHome Game

Farm system

Note: division assignments are from the prior season, and are subject to change.
LevelTeamLeagueDivisionManagerNotes
Triple-AWorcester Red SoxInternational LeagueEast
Double-APortland Sea DogsEastern LeagueNortheast
High-AGreenville DriveSouth Atlantic LeagueSouth
Single-ASalem RidgeYaksCarolina LeagueNorth
RookieFCL Red SoxFlorida Complex LeagueSouth
RookieDSL Red Sox BlueDominican
Summer League
North
RookieDSL Red Sox RedDominican
Summer League
Northwest