Boston Red Sox

Lore & Background

The Red Sox were a dominant team in the new league, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903 and winning four more championships by 1918. However, they then went into one of the longest championship droughts in baseball history, dubbed the "Curse of the Bambino" after its alleged inception due to the Red Sox' sale of star player Babe Ruth to the rival New York Yankees two years after their World Series championship in 1918. The Sox endured an 86-year wait before the team's sixth World Series championship in 2004. The team's history during that period was punctuated with some of the most memorable moments in World Series history, including Enos Slaughter's "mad dash" in 1946, the "Impossible Dream" of 1967, Carlton Fisk's home run in 1975, and Bill Buckner's error in 1986. Following their victory in the 2018 World Series, they became the first team to win four World Series trophies in the 21st century, with championships in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018. The team's history has also been marked by its intense rivalry with the New York Yankees, arguably the fiercest and most historic in North American professional sports.

In Their Own Story

The season's narrative shifted violently on April 25 when Alex Cora was dismissed after a poor start. The team found its footing under interim manager Chad Tracy during an unprecedented July. In that single month, the Red Sox won 15 games in a row, matching the franchise record established by the 1946 squad. They finished July with a staggering 21–4 record, setting a new standard for the highest winning percentage (.840) in club history. The roster saw major movement on August 3, when Enddy Azócar, Anthony Eyanson, Carlos Narváez, Kyson Witherspoon, and a player to be named later were traded to Baltimore for Adley Rutschman and Jake Rogers. Simultaneously, Tyler Uberstine went to Atlanta for Eli White, and Marcelo Mayer was sent to San Francisco for Erik Miller and Carlos Gutierrez.

Reader's Guide

The Red Sox are owned by Fenway Sports Group, which also owns Liverpool of the Premier League in England, the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins and partially owns RFK Racing of the NASCAR Cup Series. They are consistently one of the top MLB teams in average road attendance, while the small capacity of Fenway Park prevents them from leading in overall attendance. From May 15, 2003, to April 10, 2013, the Red Sox sold out every home game—a total of 820 games (794 regular season) for a major professional sports record. Both Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" and the Standells' "Dirty Water" have become anthems for the Red Sox. As of the end of the 2025 season, the franchise's all-time regular-season record is 10,044–9,336–83 (.518).

Did You Know?

• The name Red Sox, chosen by owner John I. Taylor after the 1907 season, refers to the red hose in the team uniform beginning in 1908.
• Sox had been previously adopted for the Chicago White Sox by newspapers needing a headline-friendly form of Stockings.
• The team name "Red Sox" had previously been used as early as 1888 by a "colored" team from Norfolk, Virginia.
• The Spanish language media sometimes refers to the team as Medias Rojas, a translation of "red socks". The official Spanish site uses the variant "Los Red Sox".
• The Red Stockings nickname was previously used by the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who were members of the pioneering National Association of Base Ball Players.