By Tiffany Williams –
Football is limping toward the finish line and the NFL knows it. Because once the pads come off, Boston’s attention snaps right back where it always does. Baseball. And in just 23 days, the unofficial alarm clock for Red Sox season goes off loud and proud when the equipment truck rolls out of Fenway Park for its annual pilgrimage south.
Truck Day, presented by JetBlue, is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 2, when the Red Sox’s equipment truck departs Fenway Park and heads for JetBlue Park at Fenway South in Fort Myers, FL. For a fan base starving for relevance and reset, it’s not just a truck. It’s a statement. Winter’s almost over. Excuses are running out.
Pitchers and catchers report Feb. 10. The full squad follows Feb. 15. No tickets required. No velvet ropes. Just baseball, sweat, optimism, and a roster trying to prove it’s not just a collection of transactions but an actual team again.
The Red Sox officially unveiled their 2026 Spring Training exhibition schedule, opening Friday, Feb. 20, at JetBlue Park against the Northeastern University Huskies. The Grapefruit League slate starts the next day against the Minnesota Twins at Lee Health Sports Complex. Red Sox Spring Training is presented by CVS Health, and it will be 28 games of auditions, pressure, and unanswered questions.
There’s a World Baseball Classic wrinkle too. Team Puerto Rico comes to Fort Myers on March 3 for an exhibition game, the first meeting between the two sides since before the 2023 tournament. Translation: real talent, real urgency, real eyes watching.
March brings the league’s annual Spring Breakout, with top Red Sox prospects heading to Sarasota to face Baltimore Orioles prospects on March 20. Back home, fans get “Futures at Fenway South” on March 14, a seven-inning minor league exhibition that lets fans shake hands with hope and convince themselves help is on the way.
The Grapefruit League schedule doesn’t pull punches. Eleven games against AL East opponents, including two against the New York Yankees. One in Fort Myers on March 4. One in Tampa on March 18. Five against Tampa Bay. Two against Toronto. Two against Baltimore. Sprinkle in Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Minnesota. No hiding. No soft launch.
Spring wraps March 22 in Bradenton against Pittsburgh. Then two final tune-ups with Minnesota before the Red Sox head to Cincinnati to open the regular season. Fifteen years now at JetBlue Park. Fifteen years of promises, pivots, rebuilds, reloads, and restarts.
Tickets went on sale Jan. 8 at 10 a.m. The JetBlue Park ticket office opened Jan. 12. Mastercard is preferred. The business side is smooth. The baseball side? Still under construction.
And that construction site got crowded fast.
Boston added seven non-roster invitees, a mix of depth, experience, and long-shot lottery tickets. Jason Delay brings catching depth and major league time. Vinny Capra brings versatility and a bat that hasn’t stuck. Osvaldo Berrios brings innings. Hobie Harris brings relief experience. Devin Sweet brings swing-and-miss numbers and volatility. Alec Gamboa brings international seasoning after time in the KBO. T.J. Sikkema brings a left arm still searching for consistency.
Then came the contract shuffling. Triston Casas, Romy Gonzalez, Tanner Houck, and Johan Oviedo all locked in on one-year deals. Casas is the biggest question mark. The bat is real. The injury was realer. A left patellar tendon rupture shut down his 2025 after 29 games, and the Red Sox are betting the power comes back before patience runs out.
Kutter Crawford is back on a one-year deal after missing all of 2025. Wrist surgery, lost season, fresh start. Willson Contreras arrived from St. Louis in December, a veteran bat with positional flexibility and an edge the lineup desperately lacked. Jake Bennett came over from Washington with prospect pedigree. Ryan Watson arrived via Rule 5 maneuvering. Isaiah Jackson came in for Vaughn Grissom. Depth moves, upside bets, organizational reshuffling.
The pitching overhaul continued with the acquisition of Sonny Gray. Thirty-six years old. Still missing bats. Still dealing. Still better than most of what Boston ran out there recently. Gray joins Garrett Crochet in rare company, one of the few pitchers to rack up 200 strikeouts in back-to-back seasons while barely walking anyone. That matters. A lot.
The Red Sox also decided who wasn’t worth the squeeze. Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Winckowski weren’t tendered contracts. Decisions were made. Lines were drawn.
14 players are already under contract for 2026, and this is where the message gets loud. Roman Anthony. Brayan Bello. Kristian Campbell. Aroldis Chapman. Garrett Crochet. Jordan Hicks. Ceddanne Rafaela. Trevor Story. Garrett Whitlock. Connor Wong. Masataka Yoshida.
And yes, Jarren Duran.
Duran isn’t a footnote. He isn’t optional. He played 157 games in 2025. He led the American League in triples. He was third in doubles. Sixth in extra-base hits. He signed his one-year deal on Nov. 4, and he’s under contract, productive, durable, and central to whatever this team is trying to become.
This roster isn’t short on names. It’s short on certainty. Spring Training will decide who belongs, who survives, and who gets exposed. The truck leaves Feb. 2. The workouts start Feb. 10. The games begin Feb. 20.
The Red Sox are done talking. Now they have to show it.