boston red sox

boston red sox

Was it just me, or did the World Series feel kind of blah this year?  I love a good series – even if it’s for a sport that isn’t my favorite.  But even the World Series just wasn’t doing it for me this year.  That said, there were some pretty interesting things that happened.  Game 3 alone might be one for the books – 18 innings and almost every single player from both rosters ended up playing.  I’m not saying that the series wasn’t interesting, but does interesting mean “good”?  In my opinion, the two aren’t mutually exclusive.  In the end, the Boston Red Sox emerged victorious, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Boston was a 108-win team during the regular season, which is also quite impressive from a statistical perspective.

In this post, we’re going to look at some of the more peculiar statistics and happenings from the 2018 series.

  • Chris Sale became the first pitcher (since Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser of the Detroit Tigers, in 1945) to get the first and last outs of a World Series.
  • When David Price got Manny Machado to fly out to the left field in the sixth inning of Game 2, it began a streak of batters retired by Red Sox pitching that would stretch until the end of the game.  It was the longest game-closing streak since Don Larsen’s perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series (which was also against the Dodgers).
  • The Red Sox shook off their Game 3 loss in 18 innings to win Game 4 later in the day.
  • World Series MVP Steve Pearce totaled three home runs over the course of Games 4 and 5. In doing so, he matched the World Series career total of David Ortiz, who also had three (playing in three World Series’).
  • Because of Pearce’s multi-home run in Game 5, he was placed on an elite list of other players who have also achieved this same thing in a World Series-clinching game.  Of the 10 other players to do it, nine are in the Hall of Fame – with the exception of Kirk Gibson.
  • The historically long 18-inning Game 3 took more than seven hours to finish, setting a playoff record. That was underscored by the fact that Game 3 took longer in total time than the entire 1939 World Series, which took a total of 7 hours and 5 minutes.
  • Until this series, Bernie Carbo was the only Red Sox pinch hitter to ever hit a three-run home run in a World Series. He did so in the famous Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, which ended with Carlton Fisk’s walk-off.

Do you see a theme with these statistics?  To start, it’s all stats from the Boston Red Sox. Does that mean that this is what brought Boston to win the championships?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  There’s part of me that wants to say that it has a lot to do with talent.  But if we look at these statistics, there’s also something to be said about luck.  Isn’t there?  I still stand by my assertion that the series was a bit bland, but these statistics prove that it was interesting, overall.  Especially if you’re like me and you nerd out over statistics.

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