A rain delay on Tuesday postponed the making of history until Wednesday, when the Boston Red Sox won their 15th straight game.
The victory, which was the first of a day-night doubleheader due to Tuesday’s postponed contest, tied a franchise record for a team that’s been around since 1901. Boston defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 6–3, as its 15th consecutive victory tied a mark first set by the 1946 Red Sox, which had such stars as Ted Williams, Don (Dom) DiMaggio, and Bobby Doerr.
The 2026 Red Sox feature the likes of All-Stars Willson Contreras, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Aroldis Chapman, and each impacted Wednesday’s triumph. Contreras had a pair of hits and scored a run as part of what is turning into a career year in his 11th MLB season. Rafaela homered for the ninth time this year while also scoring a pair of runs. Finally, Chapman closed the game out to collect his 23rd save, which ranks third in the American League.
It was also the 390th save of Chapman’s career, which ties him with Hall of Famer—and former Red Sox pitcher—Dennis Eckersley for ninth-most in MLB history.
Boston’s win streak began with a July 3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels, coming off back-to-back losses to the Washington Nationals. But prior to those two defeats, the Sox were on a mini run with five straight wins. Thus, over their last 22 games, the Red Sox have a 20–2 record.
Before this stretch, the Red Sox had a 32–46 record, were 15.5 games back in the AL East, and had the worst record in the entire league. After Wednesday’s win to begin the doubleheader, Boston sits at 52–48, is just six games back in the division, and now ranks sixth out of 15 AL teams. Boston currently occupies the third and final Wild Card spot, sitting two games ahead of the Seattle Mariners.
The Sox haven’t just been scraping by during this win streak, as 11 of the 15 victories have come by multiple runs. Also, the first nine games of of the winning run were all road contests, followed by a 10-game homestand that wraps up on Sunday.
The 1946 Red Sox who also won 15 straight games parlayed that streak into a postseason appearance. They finished atop the American League and advanced to the World Series but heartbreak awaited them in the Fall Classic. Despite having series leads of 1–0, 2–1, and 3–2, the Sox lost Games 6 and 7 of the 1946 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in what would be Williams’ only postseason appearance of his career.
This current streak has a very good chance of extending, considering Boston’s upcoming opponents. Counting Wednesday night’s doubleheader second half, each of the Red Sox’ next eight games are versus teams currently under .500. The easy schedule ends, however, come July 31, as the Sox will have back-to-back three-game series versus the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have the best record in all of baseball, and the Chicago White Sox, who top the AL Central.
A 15-game win streak is undoubtedly impressive, but it’s tied for just the 33rd longest win streak in MLB history. The longest ever is a 26-game run by the New York Giants in 1916. That undefeated streak actually lasted 27 games, but one was a tie, so it was 26 wins in total.
The longest win streak of the Live Ball Era (1920-present) came just a couple of years ago in Cleveland. The then-Cleveland Indians won 22 straight in a streak which, coincidentally, started with a win over the Red Sox.
However, neither Cleveland in 2017 nor the 1916 Giants ended their seasons on a high note, as neither won the World Series that season. The longest win streak by a team which then went on to win the championship came back in 1880 by the Chicago White Stockings, who eventually became not the White Sox but actually the Chicago Cubs. The White Stockings won the 1880 pennant in the National League, which was akin to winning the World Series as the latter wasn’t established until 1903.
As for the 2026 Red Sox, perhaps the most impressive thing about this streak is that it’s coming under an interim manager. Boston fired 2018 World Series-winning manager, Alex Cora, in late April after a 10–17 start. They replaced him with Chad Tracy, who was then the skipper for the Triple-A club in Worcester, and this is Tracy’s first-ever stint as the manager of a Big League club. Since the managerial change, Boston is 40–31, which is third best in the AL.
If the Red Sox don’t win another game and their streak ends at 15, it will still be the fourth-longest in-season streak by any club over the last 48 years. But as nice as this regular-season run is, October is what matters the most to both the Red Sox and Red Sox Nation. The team made the playoffs last year but was bounced in the Wild Card Round, and Boston is seeking its first postseason series victory since 2021.
