Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Yankees fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
Boston, MA
Yankees fans most surprised by Boston’s shaky start
We’re very early in the 2026 MLB season, but there’s still been enough action to shock and surprise us. This week, we asked Yankees fans about which American League rival had gotten off to the most surprising start, with the options consisting of a number of clubs off to the disappointing starts: the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles and Mariners.
The results are in, and it’s our rivals in Boston that have surprised us the most thus far:
Kyle Thele
The Red Sox garnered as many votes as the other three choices combined, and with good reason. At the time of the poll, the Red Sox were a dreadful 2-8, and they needed to win the last two games of their series with Milwaukee this week just to get to 4-9 and four games back of the Yankees for first in the AL East with the Junior Circuit’s worst record. Boston’s lineup has cobbled together a shoddy .646 OPS, while their pitching staff has yielded the seventh-highest wOBA in the league. There’s plenty of time for Boston to stabilize, but their start has been poor enough to cause some high-profile fans to start panicking.
All that said, there’s reason for concern elsewhere as well, particularly in Toronto and Seattle. The Blue Jays’ 6-7 is far from disastrous, but their injury bill is; Alejandro Kirk, Addison Barger, José Berríos, Trey Yesavage, and Shane Bieber are all on the IL at the moment, putting Toronto in a tough spot as they’ll now need to hope that their depth players can keep them from falling in a hole. The Mariners benefit from playing in a weaker division, but at 5-9 they’ve really scuffled out of the gate.
Now, onto our MLB-wide fan polls, which simply asked which team would win each division:

Kyle Thele
In related news, with Toronto, Baltimore, and Boston all off to iffy starts, the Yankees are the overwhelming choice by MLB fans to take the AL East. We’ve seen this movie before, with the Yankees consistently getting out to early division leads in recent seasons, but not consistently finishing the year in first in the East. Their stellar pitching so far has them looking like the favorites in perhaps the toughest division in baseball, but there’s still a very long way to go.
Here are the results for the other five divisions:
- AL Central: Tigers (55%; runner-up: Guardians, 28%)
- AL West: Mariners (69%; runner-up: Astros, 18%)
- NL East: Phillies (40%; runner-up: Braves, 29%)
- NL Central: Brewers (56%; runner-up: Cubs, 24%)
- NL West: Dodgers (88%; runner-up: Padres, 5%)
There are a few interesting nuggets here. Despite rough starts from the Mariners and Tigers, MLB fans still tab those squads to secure the AL West and AL Central, respectively. Interestingly, the Phillies, despite an offseason that left their fans wanting and a third-place spot in the standings currently, rate as the top choice in the NL East, with the Mets not to be found in the top two.
The Brewers remain the top dog in the NL Central, off to a fine start but with teams like the Reds and Pirates also playing decently out of the gate. That said, the Cubs still come in second in the polls, and are likely still the team that should give Milwaukee their stiffest challenge. Out west, well, there’s little surprise to be found, as the expectation remains that the Dodgers will run away with the division.
These survey results are sponsored by FanDuel.
Boston, MA
With Columbia Threadneedle out, Boston Triathlon director is looking for a new sponsor – The Boston Globe
Michael O’Neil is on the hunt for the next John Hancock.
As many Boston sports fans know, the insurance company first sponsored the Boston Marathon 40 years ago, helping usher in the modern professional era of the race as well as tens of millions of dollars in community fund-raising each year.
O’Neil wants to make a similar leap for the race he runs, the Boston Triathlon. This will be the first year without a naming-rights sponsor after nine years with Ameriprise Financial-owned Columbia Threadneedle Investments. O’Neil is seeking a successor that can help make an impact on the race the way Hancock once did with the marathon, a sponsorship role now played by Bank of America.
“We’re looking for that next transformational partner that wants to do something like that,” O’Neil said.
The 18-year-old triathlon draws nearly 2,500 athletes to Carson Beach in South Boston each August, for sprint and Olympic-distance triathlons, and also features free kids’ races the day before at the same location; Amazon has been a big sponsor for the “Kids Day” events.
O’Neil says he would like to extend the race beyond loops in South Boston to showcase more of the city and boost tourism; the Meet Boston tourism bureau is also among the race’s sponsors. Another hope of O’Neil’s: to continue community efforts that he and his race management firm, Ethos, undertook with support from Columbia Threadneedle, including donations to Boston Medical Center and the city’s “Swim Safe” program to provide swim lessons for kids. (O’Neil started an affiliated nonprofit to help expand this community work in 2024.)
He expects the race’s naming-rights sponsorship to cost “in the mid-six figures” annually.
“We’re over this hump now, after 18 years, we’re an institution,” O’Neil said. “We’re seeking a Boston-based company, that’s headquartered here or has a large presence here, that wants to make an impact on the community. … We know how to do that.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.
Boston, MA
Red Sox Star ‘Open’ to Trade Talks With Boston’s Season Spiraling
Although it is just June 22, it’s certainly starting to seem like the Boston Red Sox could end up being sellers later on this summer when the 2026 Major League Baseball trade deadline gets here.
Boston took two out of three games from the Seattle Mariners over the weekend, but still finds itself 13 games under .500 at 31-44. Right now, Boston is six games out of an American League Wild Card spot as well. Boston needs a long winning streak to turn the tide. If not, the club will certainly trade pieces away. The conversation has gotten loud enough around the team that Red Sox starter Sonny Gray said he “would be open” to having a conversation about waiving his no-trade clause if someone from the club approached him about it to Tim Healey of The Boston Globe.
“If someone came to me from the Red Sox and made a decision that that’s the direction that this team was going to go, I would be open for a conversation,” Gray said to Healey. “Whatever happens from then, only time will tell. But I would be open for a conversation.
Could Sonny Gray Be The Next Star Out Of Boston?
“Holding veto power is ‘an earned thing’ and means a lot, Gray said. He negotiated it into the three-year, $75 million deal he signed with the Cardinals heading into 2024.”
When it comes to Gray, he has been a major addition for Boston so far this season. He has a 3.12 ERA in 13 starts to go along with a 55-to-17 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 69 1/3 innings pitched. Gray is also 8-1 on the season. Even in a campaign full of losses for Boston, Gray has been able to consistently be a stopper for the club.
If he were to become available, he would be an intriguing, although imperfect trade candidate. From a talent perspective, he’s awesome and would help a contender. But from a contract point of view, he has a $30 million mutual option for the 2027 season with a $10 million buyout. Mutual options rarely get picked up. The buyout is very high and could be a barrier. That will be a bridge to cross later on, though. What’s important to note right now is the fact that Gray is “open” to a conversation about a trade. It doesn’t mean that it will happen, but it’s possible.
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Boston, MA
Jets were 300 feet apart in Boston close call that forced Delta flight to abort landing, expert says
BOSTON (AP) — A Delta Air Lines jet was roughly 300 feet (90 meters) from an American Airlines plane during a close call at Boston’s airport that forced the Delta aircraft to abort a weekend landing attempt, an aviation expert said Sunday.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating the incident between two commercial flights that happened Saturday at Boston Logan International Airport.
Todd Curtis, a former safety engineer at Boeing, estimated the distance between the two jetliners using Flightradar24, a website that tracks flights. Curtis now coproduces a podcast about flight safety issues.
“This is a significant incident,” Curtis said, adding that it was particularly concerning because it involved two professional airline crews.
He said federal aviation officials have been concerned about such runway incursions for a while now and will scrutinize Saturday’s close call.
Near-misses and runway incursions at U.S. airports will be the subject of a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation will seek ways to strengthen safety across the national airspace system.
The Delta flight from Dallas had to execute a go-around, or aborted landing, to avoid the American plane departing from an intersecting runway, according to the FAA and flight logs.
The crew of Delta flight 2351 coordinated with air traffic control to perform the go-around, an airline spokesperson said. The plane, which had 129 passengers and six crew members on board, landed safely and deplaned normally, according to the spokesperson.
Go-arounds are safe, routine procedures performed at the discretion of the pilot or air traffic controllers, according to the FAA.
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