Ballou on Baseball - September 24, 2026

One reason the Worcester Red Sox have put together six consecutive winning seasons is that they find different ways to win.

Their 76-67 record in 2026 was the product of creative baseball, a throwback style built on putting the ball in play and speed. The WooSox hit just 131 home runs, the fewest since they started playing here in 2021. But they only struck out 1,158 times, also the fewest in team history and down 229 whiffs from 2025.

Worcester’s 170 stolen bases were the second most in the 95 seasons Boston has had a Triple-A affiliation, surpassed only by its 197 in 2023. The WooSox’ 20 sacrifice bunts were the most by a Red Sox Triple-A team since Pawtucket had 28 in 2015. Their 61 sacrifice flies were by far the most ever for a WooSox team.

The Worcester Red Sox contributed heavily to Boston’s surge to a playoff spot. The WooSox’ opening day lineup included pitcher Jake Bennett, first baseman Mickey Gasper, third baseman Nick Sogard, shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng and right fielder Nate Eaton.

Chad Tracy, just named permanent Boston manager, was the WooSox manager.

The team had a strong finish and was in contention for a playoff spot until the season’s final days. Comparing the Opening Day lineup with the Closing Day one there were only three repeats. They were Braiden Ward, Mikey Romero and Allan Castro.

Even the manager, Iggy Suarez, was different.

Now that Tracy has been upgraded from interim status, Suarez loses the “acting manager” label. The transition was seamless. Worcester was 14-11 under Tracy, 62-56 with Suarez in charge. Boston’s Triple-A teams have had 34 managers with at least 100 games to their credit. Suarez’ .525 winning percentage is 12th best on that list.

The WooSox were the winningest team in the Red Sox farm system, which did not have a good year in the won-lost column. Its combined record was 322-380, the worst since 2002. The four travel teams were better at 262-277.

Worcester batters hit the the 1,000th home run in team history and the 10,000th in Boston Triple-A history. Romy Gonzalez hit the 1,000th WooSox homer on Sept. 1 in Buffalo. Romero hit the 10,000th overall on March 28 at Polar Park. It was the team’s first home run of the season.

While they did not hit a lot of home runs, the WooSox got good results when they did. Of the 131, 60 came with somebody on base. They hit five grand slams and 14 three-run shots.

Castro was the only batter with at least one of each. He led the team in home runs with 15 and RBIs with 77. Ten of his homers came with somebody on base. His seven RBIs on Sept. 18 tied a team record.

The WooSox have had a winning record in all six of their seasons. Their .531 winning percentage is tied with Jacksonville for fourth best in the league over those six years behind Nashville, Scranton-Wilkes-Barre and Durham.

The six consecutive winning season are the second-best such streak in the city’s pro baseball history. The Worcester Busters were in the black for 11 straight years from 1906 to 1916. They had two managers in that span, Jesse Burkett and Billy Hamilton.

Both are in the Hall of Fame.

Ward set two Boston Triple-A records. His 61 steals were one, his 30 hit by pitch another.

Some other 2026 highlights:

Reliever Tommy Kahnle was the team’s oldest player at 36, Franklin Arias the youngest at 20. Arias played in 42 games and had at least one hit in 34 of them. Arias’ 39 RBIs in those 42 games projects to 139 for a 150-game season.

He would never stay in Triple-A for 150 games with that kind of production, but the 2027 Major League Baseball season remains a question mark. By not being on Boston’s 40-man roster, Arias would be eligible to start the season with the WooSox should a lockout occur in MLB.

Worcester sold 500,000 tickets for the fifth straight year, the only minor league team to do that.

The WooSox’ largest and smallest crowds both came on the road. They played before 11,769 in Buffalo on Sept. 5 and before just 2,617 in St. Paul on April 1. Polar Park does not have the capacity for five-figure crowds. Worcester has played in front of crowds of 10,000 or more 31 times through the years and is just 10-21 in those games.

The WooSox were 2-5 this season with 10,000 or more fans in the stands.

Cheng hit for the WooSox’ first, and still only cycle, on April 10 at Polar Park. Eleven other Worcester batters were one hit away.

The low point of the season came on June 27 when their record bottomed out at 36-40 (.474) after losing five in a row to Toledo, the last two by combined scores of 28-7. The WooSox were 40-27 (.597) after that to rescue what could have been a lost season.

Worcester’s starting pitchers combined for a 20-37 record and worked only 536 of the team’s 1,250 innings. The won-lost record is deceptive because of today’s useless pitching standards for wins and losses. WooSox starters went the minimum five innings to get a win just 47 times.

Finally, 13 former WooSox players have made their major league debuts in 2026. Tyler Uberstine was the first, on April 5 with Boston. Brendan Cellucci is the most recent, Sept. 15 with the Blue Jays.

Six of those debuts came with the Red Sox — Uberstine, Tyler Samaniego, Jack Anderson, Jake Bennett, Alec Gamboa and Wyatt Olds. Only one, Blaze Jordan with the Cardinals, was a position player.