Boston’s World Series Champs
November 2, 2018
On Sunday, October 28, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 to win the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series four games to one. For the Red Sox, it was their fourth MLB title in the last 15 years. For the Dodgers, it was the latest in a long succession of postseason disappointments. It was the second-straight World Series defeat for Los Angeles, and it was the team’s 12th fruitless trip to the postseason since last winning a title in 1988.
Red Sox players jubilantly rush the mound as catcher Christian Vázquez leaps into the arms of pitcher Chris Sale, who recorded the final out of Boston’s World Series-clinching 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Oct. 28, 2018, at Dodger Stadium. Credit: © Harry How, Getty Images
Carrying by far MLB’s highest team payroll (around $230 million), the Red Sox set a franchise record with 108 wins during the 2018 regular season. The team won the American League East division and then knocked off the 100-win New York Yankees and the 103-win Houston Astros in the playoffs—no easy accomplishment. The Dodgers, also big spenders with a $200 million payroll (the league average is $139 million), eked out the National League West by defeating the Colorado Rockies in a one-game playoff after the teams finished the season tied with 91 wins. The Dodgers then beat the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers in the playoffs to reach the World Series.
In Boston, the Red Sox capitalized on clutch hitting and just enough pitching to win World Series games one and two. In Los Angeles, game three was a marathon 3-2 extra-inning win for the Dodgers that broke World Series records for most innings (18), longest duration (7 hours, 20 minutes), and most combined pitchers (18) and players (46) used. In an interesting note of contrast, the entire 1939 World Series finished in less time, when it took the Yankees 7 hours, 5 minutes, to sweep the Cincinnati Reds.
In game four of the 2018 World Series, the Dodgers blew a 4-0 lead en route to a crushing 9-6 loss. Game five was merely a formality as the Red Sox jumped ahead early and cruised to a 5-1 series-clinching win. Boston first baseman Steve Pearce, a journeyman player acquired at mid-season, was named World Series Most Valuable Player. Pearce had just four hits, but three of them were timely home runs.
The 2018 World Series was a rematch of the 1916 fall classic, in which the Red Sox beat the Brooklyn Robins four games to one. The Robins officially became the Dodgers in 1932 and moved to Los Angeles in 1958.
