The 1985 Boston Red Sox Flash Hope & Then Collapse In August
The 1985 Boston Red Sox showed the flashes of hope that would ultimately manifest themselves into a pennant a year later, but the ’85 team was done in by an August collapse
The 1985 Boston Red Sox showed the flashes of hope that would ultimately manifest themselves into a pennant a year later, but the ’85 team was done in by an August collapse
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The first half of the 1980s are generally not seen as a high point in the history of the Boston Red Sox, and that characterization is, for the most part, fair. There were no division titles, nor even a noteworthy near-miss. But there were examples of some overachievement and teams that deserve to be remembered well. The 1984 Boston Red Sox were just such a team.
It was 1961 that a kid from Long Island who played basketball at Notre Dame made his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox. That kid was Carl Yastrzemski and the next 22 years saw become a hero across New England. “Yaz” led the Red Sox to the Impossible Dream pennant of 1967, to another pennant in 1975, won the Triple Crown in 1967 and stayed a productive player into his 40s. Finally, at age 43, he called it quits on what would be a first-ballot Hall of Fame career. The 1983 Boston Red Sox season was Yaz’s last
The late 1970s had been a time of unfulfilled hope for the Boston Red Sox. After reaching Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, the Red Sox seemed to be a rising dynasty in the making. But that was followed with underachievement in 1976, a close pennant race loss in 1977, a devastating loss in 1978, and modest slipback in 1979. The 1980 Boston Red Sox completed the decline, falling to mediocrity and ending a short era in franchise history.
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When the Boston Red Sox reached Game 7 of the 1975 World Series with a core of young players, there was the expectation that great things were underway. Those expectations took a big step back in a disappointment-filled 1976 season. The 1977 Boston Red Sox were able to rekindle the hope, with a strong run at the AL East title, but like so many pre-2004 Red Sox teams, managed to come up just a little bit short.
The 1982 Boston Red Sox represented not only an overachieving high point in the first half of the decade, but laid the groundwork for the success that would come in the 1980s latter half.
The 1975 Boston Red Sox scratched the seven-year itch, won the pennant and nearly ended the franchise’s now 57-year drought on winning the whole thing.
The Oakland A’s won three straight World Series from 1972-74, and the 1975 ALCS marked their fifth straight appearance in postseason play. It also marked the end of the dynasty, as the Boston Red Sox ended the A’s great run with three-game sweep in what was then a best-of-five League Championship Series.
What Cincinnati had—at long last, after 35 years of waiting—was a World Series trophy. Had they lost this Series, this group of players would have had the “Can’t Win The Big One” tag trailing them around. Instead, they were just getting started on a dynasty.
The Pedro Martinez 1999 season was one of the truly great pitching performances of the modern era and should have been recognized as an MVP year.