Red Sox among the best
After a title drought lasting over 85 years, the Boston Red Sox have won four World Series in the past 15 years. The 2018 team might be the best of all.
LOS ANGELES — They ran around Dodger Stadium in euphoria, jumping into one another’s arms, screaming at the top of their lungs, hugging everyone they could find, delirious in their ecstasy.
There was never any doubt to them they’d be World Series champions. They believed from the first month of the season they’d be the last ones standing, king of the baseball mountain.
Now that the moment finally was here, after they won Game 5 Sunday 5-1 to capture the World Series 4 games to 1, the torrent of emotions hit them all at once, leaving them surprisingly emotional.
David Price, who pitched the biggest game of his life, walked away min-
utes after their team picture, covering his face with his sweatshirt and wiping away the tears.
Fellow pitcher Rick Porcello, trying to explain what this World Series meant to them, kept apologizing to the reporters around him on the field for crying.
Chris Sale, who threw the final pitch of the game, leaving October villain Manny Machado swinging at nothing but air as he struck out the side, grabbed the trophy and ran to left field. He couldn’t talk. Not yet. He kept running and running, waiting for his family to arrive.
There, they stood, Sale hoisting the World Series trophy in the air, with his wife, parents and kids to his side, walking toward the infield. Sale said he always imagined what heaven would feel like, but now he knows.
“This,” Sale said, still holding his trophy, “means everything. It’s surreal. To be a World Series champion, it’s the greatest feeling the world.
“Sitting in my bed and throwing a ball to the ceiling as a kid, playing catch with my dad, my mom dragging me all over the stage state of Florida, and now to be standing here. I’ll never forget this as long as I live.
“Really, this team will be remembered forever.”
It will be debated throughout New England which Red Sox championship team was the best in franchise history, but only two teams in baseball ever won more than the Red Sox’s 119 victories and few were ever more respected and beloved.
“There’s no question in my mind,” Red Sox President Sam Kennedy said, “that this is the greatest team in Red Sox history. It should live forever.”
The Red Sox, who won 108 games during the regular season, the only team this season not to lose four games in a row, stormed through the postseason, taking down everyone who dared stand in their way. The Yankees went down in four games. The defending World Series champion Astros went down in five, as did the National League champion Dodgers.
The Yankees (27) and Cardinals (11) are the only teams that have won more World Series titles in history, but the Red Sox, who have nine titles, stand alone as the kings of this century, winning four championships in 15 years.
“We are one of the greatest teams in history,” Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly said, “and now we will have that bond forever.”
It will be the team that produced likely American League MVP Mookie Betts, unveiled slugger J.D. Martinez’s greatness, exposed Sale’s prowess, revealed the significance of late tradedeadline moves (Steve Pearce) and forever changed the narrative of Price.
Price, who entered the playoffs with the stigma of never winning when it mattered in October, going 0-8 with a 5.74 ERA as a postseason starter, won the biggest one of all, pitching the finest clinching game since Tim Lincecum of the Giants in 2010. Price yielded a 1.98 World Series ERA, allowing six hits over 13 innings as a starter.
The crowd chanted over and over, “David Price! David Price! David Price!” And, oh, was that revenge ever so sweet.
“I hold all the cards now,” Price said, “and that feels so good. Feels so good. I can’t tell you how good it feels to hold that trump card.
“You guys (reporters) have had it for a long time. You’ve played that card extremely well. But you don’t have it anymore.
“None of you, and that feels really good.”
The Red Sox were ecstatic that everyone got to see Price’s tenacity, the man who started and won Game 2, pitched in relief in Game 3, warmed up in Game 4 and started and won Game 5 with a three-hitter through seven innings.
They talked about the sacrifice of Sale, pitching through pain throughout the postseason, taking so much medication for his shoulder that it left him hospitalized.
And if anyone dared to ridicule any of them, whether it was Ian Kinsler’s critical throwing error in Game 3 or Betts’ struggles until homering in Game 5, you better take them all on, because every last one of them had each other’s back.
“All of the critics, all of the haters out there,” Martinez said, “you got to shut up now.”