Red Sox want to be the best in franchise history

HOUSTON - The Boston Red Sox were in no hurry to leave Minute Maid Park on Thursday night, popping champagne in the clubhouse.

It doesn’t seem possible that it was just six months ago when they gathered in spring training, and won more games than anyone in Florida. They spent the regular season winning more games (108) than any team in baseball, and the most in franchise history.

They opened October knocking off the 100-win New York Yankees in four games in the American League Division Series.

They steamrolled the 103-win and defending World Series champion Houston Astros in five games in the AL Championship Series. And now, after their 4-1 victory, they captured their fourth AL pennant in 15 years.

All that is left is knocking off the National League champions in the World Series, and this Red Sox team may be remembered as the greatest in the 118-year history of the franchise.

“I would hope so,’’ Red Sox first baseman Steve Pearce said. “When you win a World Series, those guys are always remembered. There’s a lot of tradition there, with Fenway, all of the great players that played there.

“That’s what we’re trying to do, trying to make our mark in history.’’

If the Red Sox win the World Series, finishing the year with 119 victories — the third highest total ever attained in baseball history — they may be forever immortalized.

“When you win 108 games like we did,’’ Red Sox third baseman Eduardo Nunez said, “you want to be remembered. You want to be known as one of the great teams. We wouldn’t have been remembered if didn’t get to the World Series.

“Now we’re here, and if we win the World Series, how can anyone forget us?”

This is a team that went 22-9 in spring training. They won 17 of their first 19 games. They spent 173 days in first place. And pummeled the opposition by 229 runs during the year.

Yet, none of it would have mattered, they said, if they didn’t reach the World Series.

“We knew were going to be judged, (by) how we played in October,’’ said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was celebrating his 43rd birthday.

They’ve gone this far, and they’re not about to let whoever emerges from the National League, whether it’s the Los Angeles Dodgers or Milwaukee Brewers, spoil the most glorious season of their lives.

This was a triumph that meant everything to Red Sox starter David Price, who was berated and publicly reviled for his past postseason failures, and pitched his greatest game in October. Jackie Bradley Jr., scorned in Boston all summer for his offensive struggles, won the Most Valuable Player award. But perhaps this meant the most to Cora, this proud Puerto Rican, the first minority manager in Red Sox history, who has taken Boston’s beloved team to the greatest stage in baseball.

“It’s special in every aspect,’’ Cora said, “not only as a manager, but as an individual. Everybody knows the history of the city, and for me, as a minority, to be a manager in Boston . ... to be able to lead this team, it’s amazing.

“We play in a city that sometimes winning is a relief, and we’re not doing that. We really are enjoying the ride, the journey. I told them back in spring training you guys are good, we just have to stay together, be consistent, and see where we go.’’

The Red Sox refused to succumb to the negativity, ignored the skeptics who believed they were only regular-season wonders. They were written off in the New York series when it was tied at one game apiece, and again after losing Game 1 to Houston, only to be the first one invited to the World Series.

“The sky was falling in Boston,’’ Cora said. “People were saying, ‘They were done again.’ But these guys stayed together.”

And maybe, after all of this, the Red Sox are who they thought they were, not only the finest team in baseball, but perhaps the greatest in franchise history.