Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras named to the All-MLB Second Team, capping Boston’s 2026 turnaround

The Red Sox’s 2026 postseason push earned a pair of leaguewide acknowledgments this week, as Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras were named to the All-MLB Second Team at the MLB Awards Show presented by MGM Rewards in Las Vegas.

The awards were the culmination of deals that dated back to two separate trades with the Cardinals, with Gray and Contreras’ moves to Boston requiring waivers of their no-trade clauses before they could be completed. Nearly a year later, MLB’s own season recap points to those acquisitions as part of why the Red Sox were able to change course.

On the mound, Gray stepped into an ace role on a schedule with regular starts, and MLB’s account describes his season as one of the most complete of his career. He finished 18-5 with a 2.72 ERA, allowing more than three earned runs in only four of his 29 starts, and he surrendered one or zero runs in 16 of those outings.

Contreras anchored Boston’s middle of the batting order, emerging as the power source the team needed. MLB’s release cites career highs in home runs (27) and OPS (.901), and it frames his hitting as a key part of how the Red Sox kept the season afloat early and then fueled their summer surge.

The turnaround itself is included as the backdrop for both awards. MLB states that Boston became the first team in history to reach the postseason after starting the year 14 games under.500, and it highlights a June 28 performance in which Gray ran a no-hitter into the late innings against the Yankees before Amed Rosario ended it with a single.

Gray and Contreras’ season-defining contributions were also tied to their on-field roles and long-term baseball bond, with MLB’s team story noting Gray and Contreras’ prior time together in St. Louis and describing Contreras’ increased attention around the league after Boston acquired him.