Why the Red Sox are the 2013 Champions

Two years ago, the Red Sox felt heartbreak in Game 162, when they lost on a walk off against the Baltimore Orioles. What made it worse: Just a few minutes later, Evan Longoria for the Rays would hit a walk off home run, eliminating the Red Sox and sending the Rays to the wild card game.

What’s worst about it is that the Red Sox squandered a nine-game lead over the Rays for the Wild Card spot, and went 7-20 in the month of September. Talk about a choke. Following that, the Red Sox declined to exercise manager Terry Francona’s option.

I had a hard time dealing with this. How could you let go a two-time World Series winner who brought the Red Sox from nothing to everything? Nevertheless, they decided to hire veteran coach Bobby Valentine, who won an NL Pennant to with the New York Mets.

 

We all know how terrible the Red Sox were that year. There was clubhouse drinking, low team chemistry, and constant arguing, resulting in one of the biggest trades in baseball history, and one of the worst records the Red Sox have ever seen. And yes, Bobby V really threw up a different finger in this picture.

Not only did they trade Kevin Youkillis to the Chicago White Sox, but they traded Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, and Carl Crawford all to the Los Angeles Dodgers for James Loney and some minor league prospects. It was mostly for getting some salary cap back, and that would work (See below).

Bobby V was fired on October 4^th, after coaching the team to a 69-93 record, the worst record Boston has had since 1965. He was replaced by John Farrell, who was previously the manager for the Toronto Blue Jays for the past two years.

Then everything became Boston strong. Because of the acquisitions that GM Ben Cherington and the organization did in the offseason, I liked the Red Sox winning the AL East. They were able to acquire veterans David Ross, Jonny Gomes, Mike Napoli, and Shane Victorino. 

They also picked up Koji Uehara, one of my favorite players since he was with the Orioles, and I am so happy about his success this year.

 

 In the beginning of the year, the Red Sox started strong, but the city of Boston was unfortunately struck with a bombing during the Boston Marathon. With that, the Red Sox had a whole honor of the ones in the Marathon, and it was a great fan booster, etc. etc.

After the bombings, the Red Sox maintained a solid record with the use of their great bats. David Ortiz came off the disabled list, and he tore everything apart. But things weren’t going as well as the Red Sox thought.

Joel Hanrahan came in as the original closer of the Red Sox, but lasted only nine games, then was sidelined with Tommy John surgery. In response, the Red Sox put in set-up man Andrew Bailey, who too failed in the closing role. It wasn’t until late June where they found Uehara in the closing role.

After the all-star break, Uehara would retire 37 consecutive hitters, or, in other words, would throw a perfect game plus ten hitters. It is the second best streak since Mark Buehrle. He posted a 3.6 WAR on the season. Cy Young candidate? Yes- and read more later to find out why.

The Red Sox go from a 69-93 record to a 97-65 record, which was tied (with the St. Louis Cardinals) for the best record in the MLB. They finished with the most runs scored (853), 2^nd in batting average (.277), 1^st in OBP (.349), and 1^st in Slugging (.446).

Pitching wise, not only relievers, but starters had their injuries too. Clay Buchholz looked like he would be the have the Cy Young in the bag, but he would miss 82 games with an injury. They did acquire Jake Peavy from the White Sox, but he only compiled four wins with a 4.04 ERA. Nevertheless, the Red Sox finished 14^th in ERA (3.79), 3^rd in Quality starts (95), 15^th in WHIP (1.30), and 10^th in BAA (.248).

What I like about the Red Sox is their transition from such a poorly developed team in 2012, to a team-oriented ball club. Many of that came with the new skipper in Farrell. If you look at this line up though, you see Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia, and John Lester proved to be a dominant ace, but there isn’t that one player that dominates the game. They worked as a team and it worked.

For example, the Tigers have much better talent. They have potentially two hall of famers in Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, as well as having probably Cy Young Max Scherzer, plus some other scary hitting. But the Red Sox had the chemistry and came in at the right time, hitting in the right place, and thus won in six games.

 

This team was fun too; I bet anybody wanted to play on a team like the Sox this year. The whole “fear the beard” thing was great. Yes, they did look terrible, but it showed chemistry.

 

Plus, Boston had some of the most wild finishes this postseason. In Game 1 of the ALCS, they almost get no-hit, while in Game 2, they looked terrible before David Ortiz hits an grand slam that will never be forgotten.

To clinch it, Shane Victorino hits one out too. That’s just fun baseball.

This team, once recovered from injuries, and with Uehara in the closing spot, was the most complete team. It’s fitting, as they win their third title in the last ten years.

Congrats Boston, what a year it has been.

Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any questions/comments/concerns.

-Evan Boyd