As any Red Sox fan will know, they always find a way to break your heart. Luckily, that didn’t happen this year. With a swinging third strike-thrown by pitching ace, Chris Sale, the Red Sox won the 2018 World Series.
This year, the Red Sox were the best team in the baseball world, holding 108 wins. To put that into perspective, the worst team in baseball, division rival the Baltimore Orioles, only won 47 games this year. So unlike other years where the Red Sox had won the World Series, like 2004 when they broke ‘The Curse,’ they weren’t the underdogs this year. This isn’t to say that what the Red Sox did was any less impressive.
The Red Sox beat the Yankees and the Astros, who were both 100 game-winning teams, in the first two rounds of the playoffs, pairing them off against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Red Sox fans and Wheaton students, Ryan Whiting ‘22 and Tylor Phinney ‘22, described the World Series, “It was cinematic, and exciting to watch. The Red Sox were obviously the better team, and watching the game was a real bonding experience with my friends and family.”
The World Series was over in five exciting games even featuring an 18 inning third game. The Red Sox largely won in five games due to their pitching staff. After a year of ups and downs, which you wouldn’t know looking at their record, the Red Sox pitchers seemed to finally settle down. Once that happened the Dodgers really just couldn’t hit them, scoring 16 runs over 5 games compared to the Red Sox 28.
Red Sox pitcher David Price surprised many by pitching in three of the five World Series games and picking up his first postseason wins ever. Price has faced criticism for years for not being able to win in the postseason, and his performance this year will probably alleviate some of this. But Price wasn’t the hero of the World Series, that title would go to journeyman first baseman, Steve Pearce. Pearce came to the Red Sox at the trade deadline, and only played 50 games with the Red Sox during the season. Pearce hit three home runs, one in the fourth Game and two in the fifth Game, and scored seven RBIs.
What’s next for baseball? Now that the Red Sox are the best team in baseball, Boston fans will want them to stay that way. The Red Sox still have many problems entering the new season. Their center fielder, Jackie Bradley Jr., holds a perpetually low batting average along with their three catchers and their bullpen, which are usually shaky at best.
Fans will be looking at what they do in the off season. Who they trade, who they acquire, and who decides to leave the team. No one wants a repeat of what happened the last time the Red Sox won the World Series where they had a string of disappointing and sometimes losing seasons. But fans will be expecting one thing and that is the best out of them when the month of April rolls around in this next year.