At one point this season, Boston Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow was on the hot seat. More than just being on the hot seat, he was presumed to be getting fired by just about everyone as the Red Sox scuffled out of the gate this season.
That’s all a bit different now. The Red Sox have clinched a spot in the playoffs after a shocking mid-season turnaround. With that, Breslow appears to be safe in his job.
That doesn’t mean that Breslow doesn’t still have his critics. That’s part of the job, after all. He just has more ammunition to push back against those critics.
Boston Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow Responds to Critics
It’s nice to be the one who gets the last laugh. For Craig Breslow, he certainly seems to feel that way now that the Red Sox have clinched a spot in the playoffs.
Boston didn’t clinch by winning, but by having other teams lose. So, after losing 5-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, the Red Sox partied in the Tropicana Field locker room. Among the players was Breslow himself, who shared a message publicly.
“Proud of the players,” Breslow said. “The staff. This has been a turbulent season, but, ultimately, we talked from the beginning of the offseason through Spring Training about putting together a team that we felt like was capable of getting to the postseason and a deep postseason run. This is certainly an accomplishment, but it’s not the primary objective here. So, we’ve still got a bunch of important games ahead of us.”
In April, Breslow fired manager Alex Cora and several other coaches. It was a massive move to shake up the staff, which was seen as an attempt to save himself at the time. Now, with the turnaround completed, it looks more successful than ever.
“I believed in the players that we had,” Breslow said. “And I felt it was really important that we acted definitively and decisively when we did, so that we could create an environment around the players that was supportive, that would allow them to thrive, and they responded. While there may have been some people that questioned what this group was capable of, I think they answered resoundingly.”
The Red Sox haven’t made the World Series since 2018. Since then, they’ve made the playoffs twice, in 2021 and 2025. In 2021, they made a run to the ALCS, while they were knocked out in the ALWCS last season. So, it’s been a while since they made a deep run.
The Red Sox are on a Collision Course with the Yankees
A season ago, the Red Sox ended up making the playoffs as a Wild Card team, before going to the Bronx to play the New York Yankees. They’d win Game 1, but couldn’t put the Yankees away in Game 2, and the bats never showed up for Game 3. It was a very quick exit for Boston.
Now, unless there’s a very surprising change in the next few days, the Red Sox are on a collision course to go to the Bronx to play the Yankees. They can’t afford to get quickly eliminated again.
Craig Breslow will be harshly judged if the Red Sox can’t beat the Yankees. Fair or not, that’s how it goes in Boston. The mid-season turnaround could be a distant memory in just a couple of weeks.
Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow Responds to Critics After Playoff Clincher