How Will the Red Sox Round Out Their Postseason Roster?

What once seemed improbable became reality on Sunday, as the Red Sox secured their second straight postseason berth following the Astros’ loss to the Braves.

A spot in the playoffs is the latest chapter in a wild and miraculous Red Sox season, one that began with their manager getting fired after 27 games, hit rock bottom when a late June series loss to the lowly Rockies pushed them to 32-46, and apexed during a magical 32-5 run that ranked among the best stretches in baseball history.

Though they understandably cooled off over the last two months, the Red Sox had built enough cushion to withstand a mediocre month of September, allowing them to lock up a postseason berth with a week remaining in the season.

The Red Sox will now set their sights on October, and, in all likelihood, a rematch with their archrival Yankees in the Wild Card series. With a number of key players set to make their return from injury during the final week of the regular season, there are still a number of questions about the 26-man roster the club will send to the Bronx.

Let’s take a look at who I believe should begin packing their bags for New York.

Stats as of games on Sept. 21, 2026.

Position Player Locks

No surprises with the top eight players, all of whom should start against both lefties and righties.

1. C Adley Rutschman
2. 1B Willson Contreras
3. 2B Nick Sogard
4. SS Trevor Story
5. 3B Caleb Durbin 
6. LF Roman Anthony
7. CF Ceddanne Rafaela 
8. RF Wilyer Abreu 
9. DH Jahmai Jones 
10. OF Jarren Duran
11. OF/DH Mickey Gasper

Jahmai Jones is also locked as the short side of the DH platoon, as he is still batting .340/.456/.723 against left-handed pitchers despite a recent slump.

​The other side of the platoon will come down to Mickey Gasper and Jarren Duran, both of whom have a legitimate case for the start against right-handers. After an underwhelming first stint in Boston, Gasper was recalled in mid-August following Masataka Yoshida’s injury and went absolutely nuclear, recording one of the best months in Red Sox history by anyone not named Ted Williams.

Though he has slumped over the last couple weeks, he still has hit .280/.387/.516 against right-handed pitchers on the year, far better than the .196/.249/.372 line of Jarren Duran.

​Duran’s offensive season has been nothing short of a disaster, but to his credit, he has still managed to rank third on the team with 20 home runs and lead the team with 19 stolen bases. In what figures to be a tight, low-scoring series between the top two teams in the AL in ERA, having someone who can both hit the ball out of the ballpark and create havoc on the bases is extremely valuable.

​Ultimately, I believe that Duran will get the start at DH against righties, which will allow him to be pinch-hit for by Jones once a lefty comes in, while Gasper will be the top pinch-hitter off the bench against right-handed pitchers.

​Also in Consideration

• C Connor Wong
• INF Romy Gonzalez
• INF Curtis Mead
• INF Andruw Monasterio
• INF Isiah Kiner-Falefa  
• OF Nate Eaton
• OF Braiden Ward  
• DH Masataka Yoshida

These are a lot of players competing for the three bench positions, but there are a few that we can eliminate right off the bat due to injury. Masataka Yoshida has made little progress after suffering a significant hamstring strain on August 16, and while the club hasn’t ruled out his return, he is almost certainly out for the start of the postseason.

​One player who has made progress is Curtis Mead, who finally began swinging off a tee last week after fracturing his hand on a hit-by-pitch on July 27. With just over a week remaining until the start of the postseason, however, he will be hard-pressed to get to a point with his swing and his timing where the Red Sox will feel comfortable slotting him in the lineup

​As for the players healthy enough to play, the most logical selection seems to be Connor Wong, since he’s been on the roster all season and the Red Sox don’t have another full-time catcher.

​His recent performance, however, has put his spot in jeopardy. After a surprisingly hot start, he has hit just .170/.224/.290 over his last 35 games (108 PA) and has graded out as one of the worst framers and throwers in all of baseball.

​Given that the Red Sox could start Adley Rutschman in all three games of the Wild Card series, they could consider using Mickey Gasper as the backup catcher to maximize the rest of their roster space.

​This move, however, would limit the situations in which Gasper could be used off the bench, as burning him in a pinch-hitting spot in the middle of the game would leave them without a backup catcher. It’s also worth wondering if the Red Sox would feel comfortable playing him at catcher even in an emergency scenario, given he has made just one start there since June 22.

​The safe bet is that the Red Sox will carry Connor Wong on their roster, who has familiarity with the pitching staff despite his struggles both at the plate and behind it.

​The wild card of the Red Sox’s potential roster is Braiden Ward, a 27-year-old outfielder who set the Worcester record with 61 stolen bases. The fact that the Red Sox only need to carry three starting pitchers on the roster allows them the luxury of using a roster spot on a designated pinch-runner, a spot that was expected to be held by Eli White.

The 32-year-old speedster made a significant impact and suffered a torn ligament in his foot after colliding with the center field fence in September, leaving the Red Sox without one of the game’s fastest runners, as measured by Statcast’s sprint speed.

While he doesn’t have experience at the MLB level, Ward’s speed and stolen base prowess stack up with anybody in professional baseball, and he is easily the Red Sox’s best option to replace White.

Ward’s spot on the roster would come at the expense of Nate Eaton, the team’s current fourth outfielder. Though he started two games in the Wild Card Series last year, Eaton has only gotten into 22 contests this season and saw his path to playing time cut off when the Red Sox acquired Jones.

​Another player who is without a spot is Isiah Kiner-Falefa. The veteran infielder provides little else besides solid defense at second base, shortstop, and third base. Yet with Story, Durbin and Sogard all being average to above-average defenders at their respective positions, there is no real need for IKF as a defensive replacement, especially since Sogard could shift over to shortstop in an emergency situation.

​With Eaton and IKF off the board, the final spot comes down to a battle between Andruw Monasterio and Romy Gonzalez, two right-handed hitters who specialize in mashing left-handers.

​The issue for Monasterio, however, is that he hasn’t done much mashing over the last month, as he has batted just .143/.200/.169 since August 9. Couple that with abysmal infield defense, and it’s no wonder that he has lost playing time in favor of Sogard and Kiner-Falefa.

​Monasterio’s July hot streak is the main reason why Gonzalez has been stuck in Worcester for the last two months, as he was optioned to Triple-A upon the acquisition of Eli White in September. To be fair, Gonzalez found his footing following offseason shoulder surgery and an extended rehab stint, batting just .185/.264/.308 with a 28.7% strikeout rate in 73 plate appearances.

​With the benefit of everyday playing time, Gonzalez finally recaptured his 2025 timing in Worcester, destroying Triple-A arms to the tune of a .347/.402/.526 line. Even though he has yet to receive another shot in the bigs, his offensive upside far exceeds that of Monasterio’s, and his .286/.444/.571 line against Max Fried doesn’t hurt either.

Predictions: C Connor Wong, INF Romy Gonzalez, OF Braiden Ward

Pitcher Locks

1. LHP Ranger Suárez
2. LHP Payton Tolle
3. RHP Sonny Gray
4. LHP Aroldis Chapman 
5. RHP Garrett Whitlock
6. LHP Erik Miller
7. RHP Tyron Guerrero 
8. RHP Greg Weissert

No matter what order you put them in, there is little argument that Sonny Gray, Payton Tolle and Ranger Suárez are the three starters the Red Sox should and will give the ball in a Wild Card series. There was a stretch when Bennett vs. Suárez looked like a legitimate debate after the latter posted a 5.70 ERA in August, but a mechanical adjustment has helped Suárez revert to his All-Star form in September.

​The strength of this Red Sox team comes in the back end of the bullpen, as the quartet of Garrett Whitlock, Eric Miller, Tyron Guerrero and Aroldis Chapman gives Chad Tracy four high-octane weapons to mix-and-match against both lefties and righties.

​The more interesting conversation surrounds the remaining five spots in the bullpen. While not at the same level as the aforementioned Big Four, Greg Weissert appears to have solidified a place on the postseason roster with a 1.42 ERA and 2.41 FIP since July 26.

​He still shouldn’t be trusted in high-leverage opportunities, but he could prove useful against pockets of right-handed hitters, whom he has held to a .214/.263/.359 line this season.

Up In the Air

• LHP Jake Bennett
• RHP Brayan Bello
• LHP Garrett Crochet
• RHP Tanner Houck
• RHP Johan Oviedo
• RHP Wyatt Olds
• LHP Alec Gamboa
• LHP Jovani Moran

Of these eight pitchers, the most interesting are the three guys not currently on the roster. Tanner Houck, Johan Oviedo, and Garrett Crochet are all closing in on a return from lengthy injuries, and though they won’t have time to build up as starters, they all profile as potential bullpen weapons.

​Both Houck and Oviedo have had intriguing rehab stints, with Houck allowing just one earned run and striking out five in 4.1 innings at Worcester and Oviedo topping out at 98.5 mph on Thursday in his first rehab start.

Crochet, meanwhile, continues to be further behind the other two pitchers. He is making steady progress in his build-up but was unable to get into a rehab game before the end of the minor league season. He threw a live BP on Tuesday, and now the Red Sox can assess the next step based on how he is feeling.

​It’s a little premature to declare which of these three pitchers will make the postseason roster without seeing them pitch at the big-league level, but the safe bet would be that Crochet’s pedigree earns him a spot even if he doesn’t get in a game this week, and Houck gets the nod over Oviedo due to his experience in both the bullpen and the postseason.

​Even with Crochet returning to go along with Chapman and Miller, the Red Sox will likely still need another southpaw to counter the Yankees’ heavy lineup. Jovani Moran may be the more conventional choice, given that he has been on the roster all year, but he has shown signs of running out of steam:

• ​Through July 28: 44.0 IP, 13 ER, 19 BB, 50 K, 2.66 ERA, 3.54 FIP
• ​Since July 28: 20.0 IP, 10 ER, 13 BB, 19 K, 4.50 ERA, 5.90 FIP

​The dramatic increase in walk rate is particularly concerning, especially against a Yankees offense that ranks sixth in MLB in drawing free passes. That’s where Alec Gamboa has a distinct advantage, as the 29-year-old rookie has walked just 7.8% of the batters he faced since making his MLB debut in the beginning of May.

​While he may not generate as many whiffs as Moran, Gamboa has been among the best pitchers in all of baseball at inducing both groundballs and soft contact.

​That leaves one final spot for the additional right-hander, and it will come down to two pitchers who have had wildly different seasons. 26-year-old rookie Wyatt Olds gave the Red Sox bullpen a much-needed shot in the arm when he was called up to replace Justin Slaten in mid-August, pitching to a 1.20 ERA and striking out 20 batters in 15.0 innings.

​Brayan Bello, on the other hand, got off to such a terrible start this season that the Red Sox optioned him to Worcester in June, a mere 9 months after he started Game 2 in the Wild Card series last season. To his credit, Bello made substantial adjustments in his month in the minor leagues and has been a completely different pitcher upon his return.

• ​Before Option: 61 IP, 6.34 ERA, 5.02 FIP, 10 HR, 24 BB, 44 K
• ​After Option: 51.1 IP, 2.28 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 2 HR, 11 BB, 46 K

​Though he may have lost his spot in the postseason rotation, Bello’s ability to work multiple innings could end up being the deciding factor. With Crochet, Houck and Oviedo building back up, Jake Bennett posting a 5.14 ERA over his last 10 starts, and Olds recording more than six outs just once, Bello looks like the Red Sox’s best option to take on the 2018 Nathan Eovaldi extra-innings “pitch until your arm falls off” role.

​Prediction: Alec Gamboa, Tanner Houck, Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello