Chad Tracy guides Red Sox to playoffs, echoing his father's history-making run

The Boston Red Sox clinched a playoff berth on September 20 at Tropicana Field, completing a mid-season turnaround under Chad Tracy that Yahoo Sports describes as historic — and, in a genuinely unusual way, hereditary.

What happened

Per Yahoo Sports, the Red Sox entered the season under Alex Cora, who was let go following a 10-17 start. Tracy stepped in as interim manager, and the club posted a 13-14 record in June before a 32-5 run vaulted Boston back into playoff contention. Tracy has since been given the full-time job — per Posterior Wire reporting from two days before the clincher, the club reached a three-year agreement with Tracy covering 2027-29.

The family dimension is what gives the story its particular texture. Tracy's father, Jim Tracy, took over the Colorado Rockies in May 2009 after Colorado let go of Clint Hurdle. The Rockies went 21-7 in June that year, finished with a franchise-record 92 wins, reached the postseason, and Jim Tracy won National League Manager of the Year. Per Yahoo Sports, Chad and Jim Tracy are now the only father and son to each take over as interim skippers and guide their respective teams to the playoffs after sub-.500 starts — a line of history that, as the outlet notes, was already being written about as a possibility when Tracy took the Boston job.

Why it matters

The symmetry is striking, but Yahoo Sports is careful not to overstate it. Colorado executive Dan O'Dowd, quoted in the piece, noted that the two situations are not identical and that the Red Sox roster faced arguably more to overcome than the 2009 Rockies did. The paths and personnel that produced each postseason run are, per Yahoo Sports, noticeably different. What they share is the structural shape: a team in trouble, a mid-season managerial change, and a turnaround that ended with a playoff berth.

For Boston, the clinch also means back-to-back playoff appearances, per Yahoo Sports — though the outlet flags that expectations for how far this group might go in October were different from those surrounding the Rockies that year.

Where the club stands

The Red Sox carry an 85-74 record (.535) into the final days of the regular season, sitting third in the AL East, eliminated from the division race. As a Wild Card team, they rank second in the AL, sitting +3.0 relative to the cut line. Boston has dropped its last game and hosts the Chicago Cubs at Fenway Park on Friday and Saturday to close out the week.

The seeding picture carries some residual uncertainty: per earlier Posterior Wire reporting, a long-shot three-way tie scenario could drop the Red Sox to the No. 6 AL seed, which would send them to Texas rather than New York for the Wild Card round.

What we don't know yet

The health of the roster heading into October is an open question on multiple fronts. Willson Contreras has been unable to swing for two days due to right hand pain after being hit by a pitch and is not expected to play in an upcoming doubleheader, per Posterior Wire reporting. Contreras has also expressed concern about his availability for the Wild Card Series itself.

Ceddanne Rafaela, meanwhile, exited his first game back from the injured list with right hamstring tightness, raising concern about a potential setback. On a more encouraging note, Garrett Crochet threw live batting practice hitting 96 mph as he progresses toward a return from injury — though no timetable has been reported.

What to watch

The final regular-season series against the Cubs will settle Boston's seeding and, depending on results elsewhere, could determine whether the Red Sox open the Wild Card round at home or on the road. The status of Contreras and Rafaela bears watching closely as the club approaches its first postseason game under a manager who, it turns out, may have had a family blueprint for exactly this moment.