Start Spreading the News: The Red Sox Are Champions Once More

Ryan Jones, Assistant Sports Editor

They had the best record in spring training. In the regular season, they never lost three games in a row and set a new team record of 108 wins. They lost only three games in the postseason and now, the Boston Red Sox are World Series Champions for the fourth time in 15 seasons.

This Red Sox team will go down in history for a number of accolades they accomplished and might go down as one of the greatest in recent history.

Though it may seem obvious now, the team started off the year with plenty of question marks, some of which would not be answered until October.

First-year manager Alex Cora took over a team that won the AL East two years in a row, yet lost in the first round in both seasons. J.D. Martinez looked to fill the gap left by David Ortiz.

The starting rotation was questioned all season, even ace Chris Sale battled injury heading into October.

The deadline acquisitions of Nathan Eovaldi (coming off of two Tommy John surgeries) and Steve Pearce were scoffed at, especially with the Sox bullpen looking incredibly vulnerable.

All doubts were pushed into the spotlight early into the postseason, as Boston would face the 100-win Yankees in the ALDS, who set the record for home runs in a regular season. But the dangerous duo of Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge were mostly silenced in the first round, in huge part due to the Boston bullpen, highlighted by Ryan Brasier. 2018 was Brasier’s first season pitching in the majors in five years and posted an insane 0.00 ERA against New York.

The challenges the Red Sox faced were far from over after defeating their rivals. Standing in front of a spot in the World Series was the Houston Astros, last season’s champions. Houston was able to defeat Boston at home game one, but some unusual names were able to push the Sox above the reigning champions. Jackie Bradley Jr. had three clutch hits for nine runs batted in in the series. Looking for redemption after a tumultuous playoff career, David Price won the series for Boston on the road in game five, recording his first win in the playoffs as a starter in his 11-year career.

The World Series had not seen a Dodgers vs. Red Sox matchup since 1916 when the Dodgers were still based in Brooklyn.

The teams looked evenly matched heading into the series.

Martinez, Mookie Betts or Andrew Benintendi were not the story of the Championship.

Pearce, who began the year as a Blue Jay, was named MVP for Boston, crushing three home runs in the series and driving in eight runs. Eovaldi threw an absurd 97 pitches in relief in game three, which turned out to be the longest game in World Series history, going 18 innings. Chris Sale threw the first pitch of the series in game one and recorded the last in the final game five.

The damage has been done and the Red Sox are World Series champions once more.