CAUSING HUB-BUB

Price, Pearce lead Red Sox to their 4th title in 15 years

LOS ANGELES — The Red Sox really are that great.

David Price proved his postseason mettle, Steve Pearce homered twice and the Red Sox beat the Dodgers 5-1 late Sunday night to finish off a one-sided World Series in five games.

Long downtrodden during decades of despair before ending an 86-year championship drought in 2004, the Red Sox have become baseball’s team of the century with four titles in 15 seasons.

Alex Cora’s team romped to a 17-2 start and a clubrecord 108 wins, then went 11-3 in the postseason, dispatching the 100-win Yankees and the 103-win defending champion Astros in the playoffs.

Pearce hit a two-run homer on Clayton Kershaw’s sixth pitch. Solo homers by Mookie Betts in the sixth inning and J.D. Martinez in the seventh quieted the Dodger Stadium crowd, and Pearce added a solo drive off Pedro Baez in the eighth.

Pearce, a June acquisition from the Blue Jays, had three homers and seven RBIs in the final two games of the Series.

After losing to the Astros in Game 7 last year by the same 5-1 score, the Dodgers

became the first team defeated on its home field in consecutive World Series since the New York Giants by the Yankees at the Polo Grounds in 1936 and ’37.

The Red Sox won their ninth title overall, tying the Athletics for third-most behind the Yankees (27) and Cardinals (11). All that stood between the Red Sox and a sweep was an 18-inning loss in Game 3, the longest World Series game ever. They trailed 4-0 in the seventh inning of Game 4 when ace Chris Sale rose from the dugout bench for a fiery, profane, motivational rant, and the team woke up for a 9-6 win. The Red Sox never trailed in Game 5.

The 33-year-old Price had been 0-9 in 11 postseason starts before defeating Astros ace Justin Verlander in the clinching Game 5 of the AL Championship Series. He won his third straight start Sunday.

“This is why I came to Boston,” Price said. “I knew it was a tough place to play. I knew it was challenging with everything that goes on ... but this is why I came.”

Sale, originally scheduled to start Game 5, closed it out by striking out the side in the ninth.

DAVID J. PHILLIP/AP The Red Sox stream onto the field after Sunday’s final out, celebrating their fourth World Series title of this century.