It’s been an awful season for the Boston Red Sox. Beyond awful, really.
They’re at the bottom of the American League in just about every metric. They can’t win at home. They have no offense, and no star power.
Fans are furious. The manager has already been fired. Their ace has been on the IL for a month now. Their starting shortstop is out until August, and even when he was playing, he was among the worst players in the league.
Everywhere you look, it’s just been putrid. The 2026 Red Sox — the organization with the most World Series titles this century — are truly terrible.
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Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras looks on after striking out against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minn., on April 14, 2026. (Jesse Johnson/Imagn Images)
So, when the team provides us with brief moments of levity, we have to take it. They haven’t come often this season, as I just documented. We haven’t gotten a ton of those, “Wow,” moments from this group.
We got one during Wednesday night’s rare home win against the Baltimore Orioles, thanks to third base coach Chad Epperson going somewhere no man has ever gone before:
Was this legal?
Amazing. I’m gonna go ahead and echo what the announcers all said here and say that I have never, in my life, seen a third base coach do that. Not once.
Not in Little League. Not in travel ball. Not in high school. Not on the worst D-III college baseball team in the country. Never.
Wilyer Abreu of the Boston Red Sox is tagged out by Adley Rutschman of the Baltimore Orioles during a challenged play at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 3, 2026. (Jaiden Tripi/Getty Images)
Obviously, the question becomes … was it legal? It’s a good question. A fair question. It came with a somewhat surprising answer, at least for me.
Yes, it was … sort of. Here’s Rule 5.03(c) from Major League Baseball:
Base coaches must remain within the coach’s box, except that a coach who has a play at his base may leave the coach’s box to signal the player to slide, advance, or return to a base, provided the coach does not interfere with the play.
Interim third base coach Chad Epperson of the Boston Red Sox is on the field during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, on April 27, 2026. (Thomas Skrlj/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
The rule goes on to say that a manager can complain if they feel a coach violated the rule, and the umpire can issue a warning. But … it appears what Epperson did was legal, as long as he didn’t interfere with the play.
An MLB official later told the Boston Herald’s Mac Cerullo that there is no automatic penalty for a coach that moves into fair territory during a play, but he could be called for interference if he … interferes … with the play.
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So, again, this seems like a fair move by Chad Epperson. A weird one, for sure, but a fair one.
As for the Sox … they won, 8-1, to improve to a whopping 10-20 at Fenway Park this season.
