Does Curtis Mead Injury Mean Sox Are Cursed In 2026?
We all got over the ‘Curse Of The Bambino’ eventually in 2004, and, well afterwards we were spoiled with another three. But let’s face facts. Its been eight years since the Red Sox have won a World Series.
Sure for the lowly Padres or Rockies or Brewers that might sound like someone talking from a stance of privilege, but there are serious concerns to be raised. What sort of voodoo is happening over there at Yawkey Way.
The timing is brutal — Curtis Mead got traded from the Nationals on Saturday, made his Red Sox debut Monday, took a 95 mph fastball off the wrist in his second at-bat, and it turned out to be a fractured wrist. He’s now on the 10-day IL, but Mead is now very likely to miss the entire 2026 season.
And it’s not just Mead though — we’ve already dealt with Trevor Story going down with a sports hernia in May, Isiah Kiner-Falefa suffering a stress reaction in his forearm about a month later, and Marcelo Mayer going down with a milder version of the same injury just days after that.
So Mead getting hurt in literally his first game, on a pitch that clipped an unprotected spot below his hand guard, fits a pattern that’s easy to call a curse. And I think I’m ready to go there.
There are also serious questions surrounding Boston’s ability to make a proper diagnois on their players that get injured. Boston said Mead’s X-rays were initially negative and the manager said they “dodged a bullet, maybe” before the fracture diagnosis came through the next day.
This has been a trend all season long. Has anyone done a deep dive into the Sox doctors credentials?
Baseball-wise, of course, with Mead, baseball is a game where freak things will happen and this was just the latest in Boston’s infield hitting a streak of very bad luck with injuries.
But I get why a fanbase that’s seen this many things go sideways starts reaching for “curse” as shorthand — it’s a very “of course that happened” moment.
Let’s see if the Sox can pull it together, either with a rag tag group of infielders from AAA or with another Breslow trade. Do you think the Mead injury will cause the Sox to freefall from here?
