Ballou on Baseball - Spring Training 2026

LEE COUNTY, FL - The last batter to hit .400 was Ted Williams in 1941 at .406. We know this. It is a proven fact, and we know how it came about.

There are less official facts in baseball, like who was the last manager to depart from spring training and say, “The season is hopeless. We have no chance.”

Every team heads home for opening day with high hopes. The 1967 Red Sox did even though they finished in ninth place in 1966. The 2013 Red Sox did even though they were 69-93 the year before.

It is no surprise, then, that the 2026 Red Sox and their Triple-A partners in Worcester approach Opening Day thinking that this season is going to be a good one.

It should be in Boston. It could be in Worcester with a lot depending on what happens 40 miles east.

“It’s hard to have expectations,” manager Chad Tracy said. “You can look at a roster on Opening Day and think, ‘this is a good ballclub, we should do x,y and z’ and by April 15 six guys on that paper are gone and two of them could be very impactful pieces for you.”

The Boston Red Sox’ goal this spring training was simple, as it always is — get everybody ready to win the World Series. The WooSox’ goal is not so easily stated. Their job is to help Boston win the World Series and that can take many forms.

Is it possible, though, for both teams to be equally successful? Worcester has never had a losing season. Neither has it won a Triple-A title. What is the all-time best combined record for Boston and whatever its Triple-A affliate has been?

The three best combined marks are all milestone years for organization.

The absolute best was 1946. Boston won the American League pennant that year. Its top affiliate was the Louisville Colonels. That team went to the Junior World Series where it lost to the Montreal Royals, 4 games to 2. The Royals were led by Jackie Robinson, playing his first season in Organized Baseball.

The two teams combined for a 196-111 record in regular season play.

The next two years are 1978 and 2008. The ’78 Boston Red Sox tied the Yankees for first place and lost a one-game playoff. The Pawtucket Red Sox finished second under Joe Morgan then lost the Governors’ Cup finals in seven games. The teams combined to go 180-123.

Boston and Pawtucket were an overall 180-125 in 2008. The major league Sox took Tampa Bay to seven games in the ALCS and Terry Francona equates them with his 2007 World Series champions. That team holds Boston’s all-time attendance record at 3,062,699. Pawtucket was 85-58, finishing second in the North Division

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Brian Abraham’s titles seem to get fancier every season but essentially he oversees Boston’s player development program. The Worcester native plans to come home for Opening Day. From his days as a Holy Cross catcher, he knows a little about playing baseball in March.

“I remember a couple of games when it was snowing,” he said. “I remember a game against UConn that in my mind it was blizzard-like conditions. It was cold, it was snow and in my mind it was ‘What are we doing?’ but when you’re young you don’t really have a choice.”

Abraham looks at the WooSox early roster this way:

“There a lot of similar faces. There are guys moving up from Double-A and High-A, guys who don’t make the major league roster, and a lot depends on that.

“I think we have a strong core of players. If you look at our pitching staff, I think our rotation will be strong and in the bullpen — there is always some fluctuation with those guys — but there will be some similar names, and the position players will have some similar names while continuing to bring in talent and depth for the big league guys.”

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The World Baseball Classic, which was full of former Worcester players throughout the various rosters, gave some prospective WooSox more of a look than they might have had in previous seasons. The Polar Park opener is Friday and last season Worcester had additions to the roster almost up until the first place appearance because Boston was playing in Mexico. Things are not expected to be as hectic this season with the big-league team on a normal spring schedule. … This will be the fifth season Tracy and Alex Cora have matched up as Major League and Triple-A managers. The only other time the Sox have had that sort of stability in those spots is 2005 through 2009. Terry Francona was the Boston manager, Ron Johnson the Pawtucket skipper.

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With a couple of roster spots in Boston undecided, the WooSox will begin 2026 without the players who led the 2025 team in home runs (Jhostynxon Garcia), wins and saves (Isaiah Campbell) and ERA (Brian Van Belle). Worcester won 76 games in ’25 and will open this season without pitchers who combined to win 50 of them. The WooSox hit 169 home runs last year; they begin this year with 121 of those homers somewhere else. … Worcester is 2-3 on Opening Day through its first five seasons, 1-1 at Polar Park. Both those openers were also against this year’s opponent, Syracuse. Worcester is 3-2 in home openers. The WooSox won their first three. They beat Syracuse, Lehigh Valley and Syracuse in that order. They lost to Buffalo in 2024 and Syracuse last year. … Jarren Duran is, to date, the only WooSox player to be in three straight opening day lineups. That happened in 2021, 22 and 23. Nick Sogard and Nathan Hickey could match that record this year. Five of the players in last year’s opening day lineup are gone from the Red Sox organization — pitcher Robert Stock, catcher Blake Sabol, first baseman Abraham Toro, second baseman Vaughn Grissom and right fielder Trayce Thompson. Three others are with Boston — Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony and Nate Eaton.

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Worcester’s pitching staff projects to be quite young but there should be a veteran presence among the positions players, depending upon late roster moves. Mickey Gasper and Nick Sogard are back. Matt Thaiss, Jason Delay and Vinny Capra are in the mix as well.

The Red Sox scout character as well as talent when adding veterans to the Worcester roster. That’s a critical part of the process, Tracy said.

“It’s important because nobody wants to be in Triple-A. If you’re gonna be in Triple-A, Worcester is the place to be because it’s one of the best setups in all of baseball, but if you’re in Triple-A you have either been in the big leagues or are close to being there and your eyes are somewhere else.

“If you’ve got a bunch of grumpy vets it can make for a tough environment to be in but if your veteran group embraces the situation and figures, ‘while I’m here it’s a chance to have a positive impact on people younger than me,’ it can be a great thing.”