The present study was performed to investigate the effects of BABA treatment on decay and quality of postharvest strawberries (Fragaria ananassa Duch. cv ‘Fengxiang’) and the mechanism of pathogen resistance in respect to redox status. The results showed that compared with the control, the strawberries treated with 10 mmol/L BABA had higher contents of TSS, TA, total phenolics and anthocyanins as well as scavenging capacity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and reducing power. Moreover, the treated fruit showed lower disease rate. BABA could enhance the accumulation of reductive signal molecular NO and SA, and induce the enzyme activities of G6PDH and 6PGDH which are the key enzymes in pentose-phosphate pathway (PPP), to enhance the production of NADPH and GSH and lower the contents of NADP+ and GSSG to improve internal redox status. Meanwhile, the expression levels of FaPR1, FaChi3, Faβglu and FaPAL in BABA-treated fruits increased during the stored period. The 6-AN treatment alone or in combination with BABA significantly lowered the contents of SA and NO, and inhibited the activities of G6PDH and 6PGDH and accumulation of NADPH and GSH. The fruits treated with 6-AN alone or 6-AN combined with BABA showed the decrease in PRs gene expressions. Therefore, it is found that 10 mmol/L BABA treatment can induce generating reductive signaling molecules and increase the activities of key enzymes in PPP to promote the reduction potential of the fruits and induced the expression of PRs gene to inhibit decay and improve overall quality of strawberries.