In a season of star players, a huge comeback story for one player and a massive underdog story for another were wrapped up with a Championship for the city of Boston.

During the near perfect season for the Red Sox, they had the dream finish that fans and players were all hoping for. Throughout countless up and downs during the season, the Sox managed a 108-54 season. This was best in the league and the best record the Sox have ever posted in a season.

Led by center fielder Mookie Betts, designated hitter J.D. Martinez and 1st baseman Steve Pearce, our hometown team beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 to capture the Red Sox 9th overall World Series championship.

The Red Sox slugged their way through the season and especially the World Series. The starring role was truly captured by Pearce who hit 3 home runs and had 8 RBIs, which was enough for him to secure the World Series MVP. This came as a surprise to most fans who would have picked someone like Betts (who is a candidate for regular season MVP), Martinez, or even Chris Sale. But in the end, it was the underdog Steve Pearce who was the well-deserving winner.

Since 2007, Pearce has bounced around the majors playing for 7 different teams in 12 years. He was always seen as a journey man player who wasn’t a solid piece of a team, let alone a world series MVP. Pearce has really come into his own this postseason.

On the other side, dominant pitching through Chris Sale, Joe Kelly, David Price, reliever Joe Kelly and closer Craig Kimbrel led the Red Sox through countless shutout innings.

Price was also in consideration for the MVP. Pitching 2 games and getting a win in both games, he also pitched through the Dodgers’ lineup easily twice. In recent years, Price’s postseason demons have come back to haunt him… but not this season. He was like the pitcher he was back in 2016 for whom the Sox paid $217 million dollars. Price didn’t let his demons back into his mind this year as he dominated through each of three rounds.

In Price’s last three starts, he went 3-0 with 19 innings pitched holding his opponents average to .141 and pitched an amazing 1.42 ERA (earned run average). He did this dominating arguably two of the best offenses in baseball, the Houston Astros and the LA Dodgers. Price has faced a lot of people and fans being not quite fond of him in the past, but all fans can agree that feeling can be left in the past. 

Even though the Red Sox posted a league best 108 wins in 2018, they were still seen as the underdogs all postseason. Whether it be the Yankees, Astros or Dodgers, the Sox were never favored to win any of those series. Even the Red Sox manager Alex Cora is an underdog, considering he’s a rookie manager. He’s the first rookie manager to win the world series since Bob Brenly in 2001 with the Diamondbacks. In this season of comeback stories and underdogs, it all came together to be the perfect mixed bag of struggles, adversity and dominance throughout the season.

The mixed bag that was the Red Sox season became their best season in franchise history. They recorded their best record in 117 years and capped it off with their 9th world series and the foundation for a dynasty in the coming years. 

NOTE: This year’s Red Sox World Series victory parade will be Wed., Oct 31 starting at 11 AM, rain of shine. The parade route begins at Fenway. Check out a map route here.