The Boston Red Sox continued to make their quest for the first part of the 21st century to be remembered as a Red Sox era. In the 2018 MLB season, they won their fourth World Series title in 15 years, and this edition was the most dominant of them all.
Boston had the league’s best offense, and it was led by rightfielder Mookie Betts. With a stat line of .438 on-base percentage/.640 slugging percentage, 32 home runs, and 30 stolen bases, Mookie had a magnificent all-around campaign and captured the AL MVP award.
Betts was backed up by plenty of support—J.D. Martinez finished fourth in the MVP balloting, with a .402/.629 stat line, 43 homers and 130 RBIs. Xander Bogaerts was one of the game’s top offensive shortstop, clocking in at a stat line of .366/.522. Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi were key contributors. The pitching staff was led by Chris Sale, who went 12-4 with a 2.11 ERA. Rick Porcello and David Price combined for 33 more wins.
The Red Sox’ ancient rival in the Bronx was primed for a big year of their own. The Yankees signed Giancarlo Stanton, fresh off an MVP season in Miami. Stanton hit 38 homers and drove in 100 runs for New York. While Aaron Judge missed some time due to injuries, he still played 112 games and hit 27 homers. Did Gregorius, Miguel Andujar, and Aaron Hicks all hit 27 bombs of their own. Gleyber Torres went deep 24 times. The Yankee offense hit the most homers in the league, and they finished second behind the Red Sox in runs scored. A good pitching staff was keyed by 19-game winner Luis Severino.
Boston held a 1 ½ game lead on New York at Memorial Day and nudged it out to 4 ½ by the All-Star break. Both teams were playing at a torrid pace. The Red Sox broke it open in late summer, pushing the lead to 7 ½ games by Labor Day and then cruising down the stretch. Boston’s 108-54 record represented the most wins in franchise history and the best winning percentage since 1912. New York still won 100 games of their own, earning what was then one of just two wild-card berths, and the right to host a single-game elimination.
Houston was back for more after their run to the World Series championship in 2017. In ’18, the Astros were led by the American League’s top pitching staff. Justin Verlander finished second in the Cy Young voting, behind a 16-9 record and a 2.52 ERA. Gerrit Cole went 15-5 with a 2.88 ERA. Charlie Morton came in at 15-3 and 3.13. Dallas Kuechel added 12 more wins and an ERA under 4. The bullpen didn’t have a steady closer, but setup man Collin McHugh delivered a sparkling 1.99 ERA.
That staff supported an offense keyed by third baseman Alex Bregman, who finished fifth in the MVP tally. Bregman’s stat line was .394/.532, he hit 31 homers, drove in 103 runs, and scored 105 more. Jose Altuve posted a stat line of .386/.451, while George Springer and Evan Gattis each hit 20-plus homers.
Houston got a challenge in the AL West from the Oakland A’s. Designated hitter Khris Davis muscled up to the tune of 48 homers and 123 ribbies. The A’s infield provided more pop. First baseman Matt Olson, second baseman, Jed Lowrie and third baseman Matt Chapman combined to hit 76 home runs. The pitching staff spread the workload around, with everything ultimately funneling to closer Blake Treinen, who saved 38 games with a dazzling 0.78 ERA.
The Astros led a competitive four-team race that also included the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels on Memorial Day. By the All-Star break, Seattle was still looking good. They were within five games of Houston, and the Mariners led the A’s by three games for the second wild-card spot.
But Oakland made their move in late summer. By Labor Day, the A’s were 5 ½ games ahead of Seattle for the last playoff spot, and within 2 ½ games of the Astros for the division lead. Both teams cruised into the playoffs without a sweat. In the latter part of September, Houston finally got some breathing room and clinched the division in the final week.
The Astros would be the 2-seed in the American League. The A’s nice season ended when they went Yankee Stadium for the wild-card game and were handed a 7-2 loss. New York would get another crack at Boston in the Division Series round.
Cleveland won the AL Central for the third straight year. The Indians’ everyday lineup was built around the left side of the infield. Third baseman Jose Ramirez finished with a stat line of .387/.552, 39 homers, 105 RBIs and 110 runs scored. Ramirez finished third in the MVP race. Francisco Lindor was at shortstop and his numbers read .352/.519, 38 bombs and 129 runs scored. With Edwin Encarnacion adding 32 homers and 107 RBIs, and Michael Brantley batting over .300, the Indians scored the third-most runs in the AL.
Corey Kluber continued to anchor the pitching staff, winning 20 games, posting a 2.89 ERA, and finishing third in the Cy Young race. Trevor Bauer went 12-6 with a 2.21 ERA, and Carlos Carrasco tacked on 17 more wins. The Indians established a comfortable lead in the division in the season’s first half and then blew it wide open in August. Cleveland would be the 3-seed for the postseason and match up with Houston.
The National League had two great division races in the West and in the Central, both of which went beyond the final day, and both of which intertwined with the other for playoff positioning.
In Los Angeles, the Dodgers were back after getting to Game 7 of the World Series in 2017. They would lead the National League in both runs scored and staff ERA. They had seven players hit 20-plus homers, including Max Muncy, who went deep 35 times. The Dodgers acquired shortstop Manny Machado at the trade deadline, and he hit 13 more homers in 66 games. And none of the above was even L.A.’s most complete offensive player—that was third baseman Justin Turner, with his .406/.518 stat line.
The pitching staff was no less balanced. Eight pitchers won between 7 and 11 games. Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw were the best, each with sub-3.00 ERAs. Kenley Jansen saved 38 games out of the bullpen.
Los Angeles got a stiff challenge from the Colorado Rockies. Third baseman Nolan Arenado led the way in Denver. Arenado’s stat line was .374/.561, he hit 38 homers, drove in 110 runs, and played superb defense on the hot corner. Arenado finished third in the NL MVP race. Shortstop Trevor Story clubbed 37 home runs and drove in 108 more. Charlie Blackmon’s stat line was .358/.502 and he hit 29 home runs.
Colorado’s offense was second-best in the National League. That carried a pitching staff that ranked only 12th, although Kyle Freeland had a terrific year, with 17 wins and a 2.85 ERA in the hitter-friendly environs of Coors Field. German Marquez added 14 more victories and an ERA of 3.77.
The Rockies had the early lead in a packed NL West race, where the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants were also hanging around. The Giants fell off the pace, but the D-Backs were right there with the Dodgers and Rockies on Labor Day, all three teams within a game of the lead. Arizona finally started to stumble, while Colorado and Los Angeles kept trading blows down the stretch. Both teams clinched playoff berths, but it would take a one-game tiebreaker to settle the NL West title and the 2-seed.
In the NL Central, Christian Yelich had an electric year for the Milwaukee Brewers, with a stat line of .402/.598, 36 home runs, 22 stolen bases, 110 RBIs and 118 runs scored. Yelich won the NL MVP award. Centerfielder Lorenzo Cain batted .308, stole 30 bases and played magnificent defense in centerfield. Travis Shaw and Jesus Aguilar added to Milwaukee’s power output by hitting a combined 67 homers.
Brewer pitching was balanced, with no clear ace, but with everyone coming together under the orchestration of manager Craig Counsell. Jhoulys Chacin won 15 games. Jeremy Jeffress posted a 1.29 ERA as he shared closing duties with Corey Knebel and Josh Hader. Collectively, Counsell made it work to the tune of the fourth-best staff ERA in the National League.
The Chicago Cubs were the two-time defending Central champs and only two years removed from a historic World Series championship. While third baseman Kris Bryant had a down year in ’18, other players picked up the slack. None more than second baseman Javier Baez, who hit 34 homers, drove in 111 runs, stole 21 bases, and finished second to Yelich in the MVP race. Kyle Schwarber and Anthony Rizzo combined to hit 51 home runs and the Cubbie offense ranked fourth in the NL for runs scored.
But pitching was what really keyed success on the North Side. Jon Lester was an 18-game winner. There was no real weak spot in the rotation. Cole Hamels was added at the trade deadline and posted a 2.36 ERA in his twelve starts down the stretch. The bullpen was led by lights-out work from Brandon Morrow, who saved 22 games with a 1.47 ERA, and Pedro Strop, with his 13 saves and 2.36 ERA. Even in the confines of Wrigley Field, Cubbie pitching ranked second in the National League.
Milwaukee broke out to the early lead, but Chicago reversed that and led by 2 ½ games at the All-Star break. The Cubs continued to grind away, and led the race by what seemed a comfortable five games on Labor Day. The Brewers, along with the St. Louis Cardinals, were right in the thick of the wild-card race.
In early September, Milwaukee made a burst to get some cushion in the wild-card race and slice Chicago’s lead to two games. The Cardinals finally began to fade. The Brewers stayed on the Cubs’ heels and finally caught the frontrunner going into the final week. Milwaukee and Chicago were tied for first and tied for the best record in the National League.
Thus, we had two tiebreaker games, with the winners getting the top two seeds, and the losers needing to immediately turn around and play a wild-card game. Based on head-to-head records, the Dodgers and Cubs would host the tiebreakers, and the NL Central loser would host the wild-card knockout.
L.A. beat Colorado 5-2 to take the NL West and the 2-seed. Milwaukee’s late surge continued with a 3-1 win in Wrigley to earn the top spot in the National League bracket. The following night in Wrigley, the Rockies and Cubs went extra innings. In the 13th inning, Colorado won it 2-1. In 48 hours, the Cubs had gone from the NL’s top team to elimination. The Rockies and Brewers would meet in the Division Series.
Atlanta rounded out the playoff field in the National League. The Braves got big years from Freddie Freeman (.388/.505) and Ronald Acuna Jr. (.366/.552), while second baseman Ozzie Albies added 24 home runs. The pitching staff was balanced up and down, with Mike Foltynewicz’s 2.85 ERA making him the steadiest of the starters.
The NL East had the league’s Cy Young Award winner, the Mets’ Jacob de Grom, but it was the Phillies who gave Atlanta the longest battle. Philadelphia led the race by a half-game at the All-Star break. The Braves started to move in late summer and were up four by Labor Day. Philadelphia fell hard in September and Atlanta pulled away. They were the 3-seed, and paired up with Los Angeles in the Division Series round.
After the exciting finish to the regular season, the Division Series was mostly anticlimactic. Milwaukee pitching put the kibosh on Colorado, holding the Rockies to just two runs in a three-game sweep of the best-of-five round. Houston dominated Cleveland, outscoring the Indians 21-6 in another three-game sweep.
Los Angeles set the tone against Atlanta with two shutout wins at home. After losing Game 3, the Dodgers came back and closed it out the next night. Boston and New York seemed to promise excitement after the Yankees got Game 2 on the road. The Red Sox responded by unloading for a 16-1 win in Game 3, and then clinched the series in four games.
Houston put Boston on the ropes when they came into Fenway and beat Sale in Game 1 of the ALCS. The Red Sox got the home split in Game 2, but it looked like anybody’s series. Boston again delivered a Game 3 beatdown on the road, this one 8-2. Games 4 & 5 were both exciting, but it was the Red Sox getting the key hits and the key outs—most notably a spectacular series-ending catch by Benintendi that thwarted a last Astro rally and clinched the pennant.
Los Angeles and Milwaukee played the best series of the entire postseason. The Brewers won Game 1 and had the lead late in Game 2. The Dodgers rallied to tie the series. Milwaukee responded by winning Game 3. Los Angeles had to go 13 innings to win Game 4, and the Dodgers then grabbed Game 5. The Brewers had an answer—a decisive win in Game 6, and an early Yelich home run to set the tone in Game 7. But Dodger pitching had the last word—they shut Milwaukee down the rest of the way, won 5-1 and secured their second straight pennant.
The cities of Boston and Los Angeles had a long history playing each other in the NBA Finals. In a few short months, they would meet in the Super Bowl. This was the first time these major markets had met in a World Series. The Red Sox won the first two at home, and then got the lead in extra innings of Game 3. Their backs to the wall, the Dodgers tied that game and ultimately won it in 18 innings. When Los Angeles led late in Game 4, it looked like momentum was shifting. But Boston rallied to win 9-6, effectively breaking the Dodgers’ back. The Red Sox closed out the title, 5-1 in the fifth game.
It was the best Boston season since the Babe Ruth era and perhaps ever. These ’18 Red Sox had sealed the deal with an 11-3 run through October.