Red Sox Win Streak Hits 14 — Boston Chases 1946 Record Tonight
- Jul 21
- 4 min read
The Boston Red Sox are one win away from history. With a 6-5 comeback victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park on Monday night, Boston extended its winning streak to 14 games — the second-longest run in the franchise's 125-year existence and one shy of the record 15 straight set by the fabled 1946 club. On Tuesday night, in front of what promises to be a roaring Fenway crowd, the Red Sox can match a mark that has stood for 80 years.
The hero of win No. 14 was one of the newest faces in the lineup. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and the score knotted at 5-5, Caleb Durbin launched a tiebreaking home run over the Green Monster, capping a furious Boston comeback and sending Fenway Park into bedlam. It was the kind of moment that has defined this improbable run — a different hero seemingly every night, and a team that simply refuses to believe it is out of any game.
Aroldis Chapman then slammed the door in the ninth, locking down the save and finishing off a game with remarkable stakes on both sides. The Orioles entered Monday riding a season-best seven-game winning streak of their own, meaning the two hottest teams in baseball collided head-on — and Boston walked away with both the win and the bragging rights.
The matchup itself was a historical rarity. Monday's game was just the second in MLB history in which two teams carrying winning streaks of at least seven games and combining for at least 20 consecutive victories faced each other. The only precedent came all the way back in 1884, when the St. Louis Maroons put a 12-game streak on the line against the Washington Nationals' 11-game run. That is the level of history this Red Sox team is now brushing up against on a nightly basis.
What makes the streak almost surreal is where Boston stood less than a month ago. At the close of business on June 24, the Red Sox owned the worst record in the American League and sat 15.5 games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East. The season, by any reasonable measure, looked finished. Since then, Boston has won 19 of its last 21 games, transforming from a deadline seller into one of the most dangerous teams in the sport almost overnight.
The franchise record they are chasing carries serious weight. Eighty years ago, the 1946 Red Sox — powered by a young Ted Williams returning from World War II service — ripped off 15 consecutive wins early in the season and rode that momentum all the way to the American League pennant. No Boston team since has matched that streak. This group, left for dead in June, now stands one victory from joining them in the record books.
The formula during the run has been complete, complementary baseball. The lineup has delivered late-inning rallies night after night, the rotation has kept games close, and the bullpen — anchored by Chapman's power arm in the ninth — has been nearly untouchable in high-leverage spots. Monday's comeback from an early deficit against a red-hot Baltimore club was the streak in miniature: patient at-bats, timely power, and shutdown relief when it mattered most.
Inside the clubhouse, players have described the turnaround as a total buy-in moment — a stretch where every player on the roster believes something special is happening. Durbin, mobbed by teammates after his Green Monster blast, spoke afterward about the group's resilience and the energy building inside Fenway with every win. The fan base, starved for a run like this, has turned the ballpark into a playoff atmosphere in the middle of July.
The stakes go far beyond the record book. Boston's surge has blown the AL East and the wild-card picture wide open. A deficit that once looked insurmountable has shrunk dramatically, and the front office's calculus ahead of the trade deadline has flipped entirely — a team that was fielding calls on veterans a month ago is now positioned to add pieces for a legitimate playoff push.
Tuesday night's game against the Orioles now becomes appointment viewing across baseball. A win ties the 1946 club at 15 straight; a win Wednesday would stand alone as the longest streak in Red Sox history. Baltimore, stung by Monday's collapse and eager to play spoiler, will have every incentive to end the party at Fenway.
Streaks like this are precious and fleeting — the longest in modern MLB history remains Cleveland's 22-game run in 2017, a reminder of how rare it is for any team to stay perfect for weeks at a time. But whatever happens Tuesday, these Red Sox have already authored one of the great in-season turnarounds in recent memory.
From worst in the American League to the brink of franchise history in under a month, the 2026 Red Sox have given baseball its best story of the summer. One more win, and they stand shoulder to shoulder with Ted Williams and the legends of 1946. Fenway will be shaking on Tuesday night — and all of New England will be watching.
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