Duck boats are warming up. Souvenir hawkers are stocking their racks. Forecasters are calling for sun and 60s.
The 2018 World Series parade in Boston is on deck!
For the fourth time in the last 15 seasons, fans will jam Back Bay and Government Center streets on Wednesday morning to celebrate their heroes, the World Series Champion Red Sox. They should savor every minute because years will pass before another team will produce the thrills, drama and heroics the Red Sox provided from the first pitch to leadoff batter Mookie Betts at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on March 29 to the last pitch hurled by Chris Sale at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Oct. 28.
What this team accomplished still boggles my mind. The Red Sox won 119 games, a total bettered only by the 1998 Yankees with 125 and the 2001 Mariners with 120.
Their home-run driven 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday night gave the Red Sox the best-of-seven showdown, 4-1. Steve Pearce hit a two-run homer in the first and a solo shot in the eighth. Mookie Betts in the sixth and J.D. Martinez in the seventh added solo blasts.
Boston had eliminated the 103-win Yankees, 3-1, in the A.L. Division Series and the 100-win defending champion Astros, 4-1, in the A.L. Championship Series. Each of those series ended on the road.
The Red Sox won the franchise’s ninth World Series title, tying the Athletics and trailing only the Cardinals with 11 and the Yankees with 27.
This team started fast and never faltered. After losing that opener to Tampa Bay, the Red Sox won 17 of their next 18 games. By July 2 they were in first place and by the All-Star break in mid-July they were 68-30. Five Red Sox – Betts, Martinez, Chris Sale, Craig Kimbrel and Mitch Moreland – were All-Stars.
The Sox swept the Yankees at Fenway Park in early August, and although they faltered a bit the last two weeks of September while several starters rested, they pounded the Yankees, 10-2, in the regular-season finale for their 108thvictory. They never lost more than three consecutive games. Betts put up MVP numbers, and Martinez was not far behind.
They were 11-3 in October, and on the field after clinching the World Series, principal owner John Henry declared this Red Sox team the best ever.
Such unprecedented success was not a surprise. The Red Sox had the highest payroll in baseball, about $223 million according to various sources. They had a great outfield in Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Betts; a solid shortstop in Xander Bogaerts; proven starting pitching in Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello, and a decent closer in Kimbrel.
Questions loomed at third, second and first base, and about the middle relievers, but as the season progressed Rafael Devers and Eduardo Nunez platooned at third. Brock Holt and Nunez logged time at second after recurring knee problems sidelined Dustin Pedroia and until the Sox acquired former All-Star Ian Kinsler. Moreland took over fulltime at first after the team released Hanley Ramirez in May. The bullpen, shaky at times, held up.
Mid-season trades brought Pearce, a journeyman left fielder/first baseman, and starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi to Boston. Remember Pearce’s first game in a Red Sox uniform at Fenway Park on July 9? Two-run homer against Texas. And his Aug. 2 game against the Yankees? Three home runs. Talk about foreshadowing his World Series heroics. In his last six at-bats he hit three home runs, a double and drove in seven runs, enough to earn the MVP award and a big red Chevy truck.
The feel-good story of the post-season, though, was Price. Maligned for his big contract, sour attitude, injuries and, most of all his failure to win a post-season start during his career, Price transformed himself into a World Series hero. He beat Houston in the pennant clincher, beat Los Angeles in Game 2 of the World Series, pitched in relief in the epic, 18-inning Game 3, and went seven strong innings in Game 5, allowing only three hits. During one stretch he retired 14 Dodgers in a row.
Let’s not forget the rookie manager, Alex Cora, an infielder on Boston’s 2007 championship team and bench coach for the 2017 World Series champion Astros. He earned the trust of his players during spring training to the point that complaints during the season were almost nonexistent. Position players were happy to platoon or move to different positions. Starting pitchers went to the bullpen when necessary. Eovaldi threw six innings 97 pitches of brilliant relief in Game 3. Price volunteered for relief duty and warmed up during Game 4. Who was on the mound for the ninth inning Sunday? Chris Sale, the ace. He struck out the side, Manny Machado dropping to his right knee after flailing at Sales’s final slider of the season. Poetic justice, for Machado probably ended Pedroia’s career with his spike-high slide in 2017.
The Red Sox gave New Englanders an unforgettable baseball ride this summer and a World Series championship this fall. New Englanders by the tens of thousands will show their appreciation Wednesday when they jam Back Bay and Government Center streets for another Duck Boat Parade.
