Chad Tracy is not a popular man in Boston right now.
The Boston Red Sox opened up their best-of-three AL Wild Card series against the hated rival New York Yankees on Tuesday. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in New York, N.Y.
Red Sox phenom Payton Tolle got the start and held his own, going 4.2 innings and with four strikeouts and just one earned run. But with nobody on base in the fifth inning, the Boston manager Tracy curiously decided to pull Tolle from the game and have reliever Erik Miller pitch to Yankees designated hitter Ben Rice instead.
The move immediately backfired as Miller missed his spot on a 1-1 pitch, firing a meatball down the middle that Rice promptly deposited over the fence. That gave New York a 2-0 lead with ace pitcher Cam Schlittler still dealing on the other side of the ball as well.
Ben Rice doubles the Yankees lead with one swing! pic.twitter.com/x3nmUz8Ijd
— MLB (@MLB) September 30, 2026
Fans quickly skewered Tracy for the move. Many believed that it was a classic case of overmanagement.
Why take out Tolle with nobody on in the 5th? Gotta bring in a reliever to give up a homer? Chad Tracy doing too much there
— Justin Macmahan (@JustinMacmahan) September 30, 2026
Chad Tracy pic.twitter.com/W7pFNa6A6o
— Liam Fennessy (@LiamFennessy_) September 30, 2026
We need to put Chad Tracy back on the interim tag https://t.co/bm3oQbTfoi
— Nyanasaur (@Nyanasaur) September 30, 2026
Making Chad Tracy, the manager for this team is going to set us back at least 30 years
— Leo (@Leo__ffs) September 30, 2026
Tolle was at a modest 83 pitches when Tracy pulled him, and he had actually struck out Rice during Rice’s previous at-bat (though Rice did hit a double off Tolle in the first inning). Playing matchups there also made little sense when considering that Tolle and Miller are both lefties.
Tracy, 41, did earn some goodwill in Boston after taking over as interim manager in late April following Alex Cora’s firing and going 77-58 to lead the Red Sox to a surprise playoff berth. He was also rewarded by the team with the permanent manager job earlier this month as part of a new multi-year deal.
But Tracy ultimately looked to have failed the test on Tuesday in his first-ever playoff game as a manager. This is not the first time either that Tracy has cost the Red Sox with his in-game management.
