Red Sox Nation left the Wild Card round with more questions than answers after being embarrassed by the Yankees. Following the Game 2 loss, fans were left heavily questioning manager Chad Tracy's decision-making, especially with regard to his management of the bullpen. The quotes that followed the game didn't help his case.
The moment that really got fans riled up was following Sonny Gray's departure in the fifth inning. With two outs and runners on first and third, Tracy handed the ball to Erik Miller in relief. In Game 1, Tracy did the same thing when taking Payton Tolle out in the fifth inning, and Miller immediately gave up a left-on-left home run. In Game 2, with lefty Cody Bellinger at the plate, the scuffling (regressing?) Miller allowed an RBI single, giving New York a 2-0 lead.
Fans were rightfully upset by the decision to trust Miller again. Not only had the lefty struggled down the stretch in the regular season, but he'd just shown the game before that just didn't have it. In the postgame press conference, Tracy tried to justify his move.
Chad Tracy only made himself look worse with his reasoning to use Erik Miller in Game 2 of the Wild Card
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— Stats (@redsoxstats) October 1, 2026
"I think, where we were at in today's game, we pretty clearly knew who we were going to throw," Tracy said in response to being asked about bringing on a lefty to face Bellinger, who hits lefties well. "Those are the best ones we have to offer, so it was pretty obvious we were going to be aggressive..."
What it sounds like Tracy is referencing is a game script. That if the Sox were at a certain point in the game, with a certain score, it was predetermined that Erik Miller was going to be the man called upon.
That was exactly what Willson Contreras was talking about in his postgame comments. The veteran first baseman lamented the Sox approach to the games, saying they relied too heavily on analytics and didn't have any feel for the flow of the game.
You can add Sonny Gray's comments in here, too. He mentioned hoping for more trust in the moment he was pulled from the game. He also talked about being one of the best pitchers this season when facing a lineup for the third time (which was true). Anyone who's followed baseball recently knows that analytics-heavy teams don't like pitchers facing a lineup for the third time.
What happened in the game, plus the quotes after, has left Red Sox fans scratching their heads as to what changed. In the middle of the season, it felt like the whole team was running on feel for the game. They pinch-hit in the perfect moments, even if it didn't feel right. They would allow pitchers to work through jams on trust.
Now, Red Sox Nation heads into the offseason questioning the ability of their newly extended manager. They are questioning how much autonomy he actually has from the front office. These questions are going to loom over the entire offseason and into next season.
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