The Boston Red Sox's season is officially over after they were embarrassed by the American League East rival New York Yankees, getting swept in two games in the Wild Card series at Yankee Stadium. After Boston got eliminated on Wednesday night, first baseman Willson Contreras hinted that there is too much reliance on data within the organization.
In back-to-back games, Red Sox manager Chad Tracy lifted his starting pitcher after just 4.2 innings. First it was Payton Tolle who only threw 83 pitches and was cruising in Game 1, and then it was Sonny Gray after just 70 pitches last night. Both moves ultimately backfired as Boston's bullpen, which led baseball with a 3.00 ERA during the regular season, imploded in each contest.
Red Sox relief pitchers were charged with 15 runs across two games. This mark was very unorthodox for this unit based on what occurred during the regular season, but Boston should've gone with its starters longer.
Why one scout agrees with Willson Contreras' critique of the Red Sox
Willson Contreras: "It's not enough when you have talent, or you have data, or you have computers telling you what to do, because this is baseball. The data is here to help us, but at the end of the day, you need experience and veteran guys to win games. There's a lot of stuff I… pic.twitter.com/MS7u5yy96y
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) October 1, 2026
One National League scout who spoke with FanSided seemed to concur with what Contreras had to say during his postgame availability about the Red Sox's decision making.
"The Red Sox were beleaguered by injuries, but their mid game pitching decisions made the series a laugher," the scout said. "Seems like they are leaning so hard on the large sample size that they are ignoring what their eyes were telling them. In a must win game, the choice to never use (Aroldis) Chapman until the series was over, has had people fired for less."
Regarding Chapman, the Red Sox didn't put the closer, their best reliever, into the game until it was already out of hand in Game 2, with Boston trailing 9-2 in the eighth inning. Despite having a 1.92 ERA this season, Chapman only appeared in one of two games in the series once things were out of reach. He struck out the side in his lone low-leverage appearance.
In the postseason, teams often go to their closer earlier than the ninth inning in order to pitch them in high-leverage spots to help preserve the game. If the Red Sox had taken this approach with Chapman, they might have been able to keep themselves in the game in one or both of these contests.
Instead, the Yankees blew the Red Sox out in both games. The Red Sox were outscored 18-2 across these two games, which resulted in a series sweep. Beyond its bizarre pitching management, Boston's bats didn't show up in the Wild Card series either. The team and organization will now have a long time to think about the way their season ended now that it's officially over.
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