Boston Red Sox star third baseman Alex Bregman was missing in action when his team needed him the most.

Bregman hit just .186 with a .452 OPS in a 24-game stretch beginning on Aug. 23. But this weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays, he went 5-for-11 at the plate with a home run, just his second in the month of September.

As the Red Sox (85-71) try to secure their spot in the playoffs during the final week of the regular season, they desperately need Bregman to be on his game in the batter’s box. And the slugger’s latest comments following the Rays series are a cause for even more hope.

Sep 19, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; Boston Red Sox third base Alex Bregman (2) hits a home run during the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Bregman said his focus has been on trying to hit the balls hard in the air to the pull side and make better overall swing decisions, and over the weekend, he felt as though that’s what he was doing.

“I feel like the swing, mechanically, is getting right to where I want it,” Bregman said after the Rays series, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. “Obviously, for the last month and a half, month or so, it hasn’t really felt great like it did early on in the season.

“We’ve been working hard at it every day to get back to feeling good, and being able to pull the ball in the air, and then when I hit the ball the other way, keeping it low. And I feel like when my swing is at its best, it’s line drives the other way, and it’s high in the air [to] the pull side, hard. So, I feel like this last series is a step in the right direction.”

It was visible that Bregman was pressing during his slump, expanding the zone to swing at borderline pitches early in counts and hitting far more weak ground balls than he had at any point during the first four months of the season.

If the Red Sox get a good week out of Bregman, their odds of making the playoffs will be near 100%. And as he presumably prepares to opt out and test free agency again, the All-Star sure wouldn’t mind boosting his value with a few more clutch bombs.

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