The Boston Red Sox will enter the second half of the season with a promising opportunity. Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy has a great opportunity to secure his spot as the team's permanent manager... while also chasing some family legacy history.
After Alex Cora was dismissed from the team, along with five members of the hitting staff (including hitting coach Peter Fatse) and Game Planning Coordinator Jason Varitek, Tracy had inherited a team that looked destined for a lost season. Instead of an immediate turnaround, things got even worse.
Chad Tracy can follow in his father's footsteps
The Red Sox appeared dead in the water earlier this season after falling to 14 games below .500. Few teams ever recover from that kind of deficit, let alone climb back into postseason contention. Yet Boston has done exactly that, riding a nine-game winning streak into the break while moving to within half a game of an AL Wild Card Spot. They have a 46-48 record, sitting 10 games now out of the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, and seven behind the Yankees.
If Boston continues playing the way it has over the past several weeks, the 2026 season could end up being remembered as one of the most remarkable turnarounds in franchise history.
Not only that, but if he can guide them to the postseason, he'll be following a path that his father, Jim, created nearly two decades ago.
In 2009, Chad's father, Jim Tracy, took over the Colorado Rockies after Clint Hurdle was fired with the club sitting at 18-28 on the season. Under Tracy's leadership, Colorado, with a young core led by Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, and Ubaldo Jimenez, caught fire.
They finished with a 92-win season, going 74-42 after the managerial change. His remarkable turnaround earned him the National League Manager of the Year Award, making him just the second manager in MLB history to win one after taking over a club midseason.
This also led to him becoming their permanent manager until his resignation after the 2012 season.
The Red Sox have a chance to make some magic
What's perhaps the most encouraging part is that underlying statistics suggest the Red Sox should be much better than what they were.
Despite sitting now two games below .500, Boston owns a +27 run differential, having scored 385 runs while allowing just 358 in the first half of the season. Traditionally, run differential is one of the best indicators of a team's true performance over the course of a season, and this indicated a resurgence was inevitable. But we didn't know when...
Based on those numbers, the Red Sox project closer to a 50-44 club rather than their actual record, where they've left wins on the table throughout the season so far. Another surprising trend is that the Red Sox are worse at home, with a 17-27 record, and are great on the road this year, with a 29-21 record. If they can at least go .500 at Fenway in the second half, then they will gain some serious traction in the standings.
With the expanded postseason and their positive run differential telling the true story, the hopes are high now.
Should the Red Sox complete the comeback, the Tracy family would own one of the most unique accomplishments the sport has ever seen. Father and son would each have taken over struggling teams during the season and guided them from seemingly impossible positions into the postseason conversation.
For a Red Sox team desperately searching for an identity, just like those 2009 Rockies, Tracy might be adding another unforgettable chapter to his family legacy.
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