On July 22, 2026, the Boston Red Sox won their 15th consecutive game, tying the oldest record in franchise history. The last time Boston pulled it off was 1946 — the year Ted Williams returned from military service and won the AL MVP. That record stood untouched for 80 years.
What makes this one different isn’t just the number. On July 1, these same Red Sox were 37-48 and sitting dead last in the AL East. They got here from the basement in three weeks.
From Last Place to Franchise Record in 21 Days
Boston fired manager Alex Cora early — he went 10-17 before being let go — and by July 1 the team had cratered to the bottom of the division. Enter Chad Tracy, who took over mid-season without ever having opened a year as a big-league manager.
Tracy is now the first manager since the 19th century to lead a team on a win streak of 15 or more games without having started the season in charge. He didn’t inherit momentum. He built it from scratch with a roster that had already shipwrecked.
The record-tying win came against the Baltimore Orioles: a 6-3 victory with Jake Bennett starting and delivering 5⅔ innings while allowing three runs. The bullpen closed it out. Over the full 15-game run, Boston’s pitching staff has posted a 2.05 ERA — the real engine behind everything.
1946: The Only Precedent That Matters
The last time the Red Sox won 15 straight, Ted Williams had just come back from World War II and was playing at a level almost no one has matched since. He finished that season hitting .342 with 38 home runs and 123 RBI, taking home the AL MVP. The team went 105-49 — the best record in franchise history in the modern era — and reached the World Series before falling to the Cardinals in seven games.
That 1946 streak became a franchise benchmark for eight decades, forever tied to Williams’s name. The contrast with 2026 couldn’t be sharper: that Red Sox team was the best in the league from Opening Day. This one arrived at the same record from last place.
Same number. Very different roads to get there.
Just How Rare Is a 15-Game Winning Streak?
Since the Expansion Era began in 1961, only seven other teams had won 15 or more consecutive games before this Boston club. The most recent was the 2021 St. Louis Cardinals, who rattled off 17 straight wins.
Boston closed July 22 in third place in the AL East with a Wild Card spot squarely in their sights. Three weeks ago that would have sounded like fiction.
The Red Sox still have a full story left to write in 2026. But they’ve already matched the only number that mattered this week — one that had Ted Williams’s fingerprints on it for 80 years.
