Payton Tolle's electric recall debut can't stop Red Sox from entering panic mode after Yankees sweep in Boston

Story by

TJ Morin

Fri, Apr 24, 2026 ·

2 min read

Payton Tolle's electric recall debut can't stop Red Sox from entering panic mode after Yankees sweep in Boston originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

After getting swept by their biggest rival in the New York Yankees , the Boston Red Sox should be in a full panic mode. While Payton Tolle put on a clinic in the final game of the series, his bullpen couldn't hold on, allowing for New York to take three games in Boston.

Sitting at 9-16, they are second-to-last in the American League, and are one of the worst teams in the MLB.

The fanbase’s hope for a playoff run is dwindling, thanks to an awful offense and subpar pitching performance by the team.

Their supposed strength is a weakness

The Red Sox were supposed to have a top rotation going into the 2026 season. With Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet at the helm, All-Star additions in Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez , the Sox were looking tough. They also had young stars in Brayan Bello , Connelly Early , and Payton Tolle ready to take on the back-end of the rotation and be depth as well.

With that in mind, they should be winning their games 1-0 or 2-1, right? Wrong. With Crochet being nothing like last year, the Sox are struggling. Even Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer noticed, stating Crochet not pitching well wasn’t foreseen by Boston .

“It's pitching that must carry Boston. That plan won't work if Crochet keeps pitching like this. The 2025 AL Cy Young Award runner-up has a 7.88 ERA through five starts, one of which saw him give up 11 runs to the Twins,” Rymer wrote.

Their offense is laughably bad

Boston knew going into this season their offense was going to be worse. They traded away Rafael Devers in June of last season, and they lost his replacement, Alex Bregman , in free agency this past offseason.

So far this season the Sox are tied for last in home runs , are second to last in on base percentage plus slugging , and are bottom five in total runs , runs batted in , and batting average . On top of that, all their star hitters are slumping hard as well.

Boston has a little hope

Eric Canha - Imagn Images

MLB Network’s founder Rob Parker believes the Sox are dead in the water , due to having no spark. “They have no spark…I’m just surprised that where they were a year ago in a Game 7 (game three of the Wild Card series) against the Yankees, where people thought they would win and move on, and now they seem to be totally dead,” Parker said.

However, that take can bring a little hope as well. While they are struggling, they still have most of the core they had last year, meaning if they get it together, they might be able to have another midsummer rally that puts them back into the playoff race.

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