Red Sox Crack Top Ten In 2026 MLB Preseason Power Rankings
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The Boston Red Sox play their final spring training game on Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins. After that, they'll break camp and head north to face the Cincinnati Reds on Opening Day on Thursday.
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With the 2026 MLB season kicking off this week, The Athletic unveiled its final preseason MLB power rankings on Tuesday (subscription required). Fortunately for the Red Sox, they rated well, coming in at eighth between the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves.
In his write-up, Tim Britton highlighted the outfield, rotation and farm system as major strengths for Boston. He also cited the team's imbalanced roster and infield as potential concerns.
Much like in 2025, we begin this year’s preseason edition of our power rankings with the Los Angeles Dodgers as reigning champions and sitting atop our list.
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 24, 2026
But there are plenty of differences this year, too. pic.twitter.com/htWhGfqFYv
"There’s no doubting that the Red Sox have a lot of good players; it’s worth wondering whether they can all be on the field at the same time. Boston is flush with outfielders and starting pitchers; the latter is where it leaned in this winter in acquiring Ranger Suárez, Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo to go along with one of the deeper groups of near-ready prospects in the sport," Britton writes.
"The infield, though, sure misses that one extra bat, and the bottom half of the lineup will pivot on whether strong offensive stretches by the likes of Caleb Durbin, Ceddanne Rafaela and Carlos Narváez can be replicated in 2026."
Overall, eighth is pretty good. The Athletic views the Red Sox as a solid playoff team, but only the third-best team in the AL East again behind the Blue Jays and New York Yankees. The Seattle Mariners also ranked ahead of them among American League teams.
In other words, Boston should feel pretty good about its team entering the season, although there's still some room for improvement.
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