Well, rejoice Red Sox fans—you guys have lots of dirty water to drink.
The Sox finished off the Dodgers in Chavez Ravine 4 games to 1 with a final score of 5-1 in Game five.
Of course, the big blow in the game came from clutch machine and eventual World Series MVP, Steve Pearce, in the first inning off of Clayton Kershaw, delivering a two-run homer to set the tone early.
Postseason hero of yesteryear David Freese answered back with a solo shot in the bottom of the first off of red-hot David Price.
The game was pretty close until the sixth, seventh and eighth innings when the Sox tacked on one insurance run each inning to take the game 5-1 and the series 4-1.
This was a magical season for the Sox, winning a total of 119 games which is third best in history.
They only lost three games in the entire postseason and David Price ended his notorious postseason slump going 3-0 with an ERA of 1.37 in his last four starts.
This also marked the fourth Red Sox title in 15 years, after going 86 years without winning a single title.
On top of that, Alex Cora won the title in his rookie season as manager, becoming the fifth to do so, a year after winning the WS as a member of the coaching staff for Houston.
Interestingly, the Red Sox won the title while their star players in Betts, Martinez and Bogaerts combined to hit .210 in the postseason.
This is not necessarily the recipe for dominance.
They did so being opportunistic: with two outs in the postseason, the Red Sox finished 17-40 (.425 batting average), .564 on-base percentage, while having a 11/7 K to walk ratio.
Oh, and 52.9% of their runs in the postseason have been scored with two outs. This shows that they remain determined and take advantage of every out.
Manager Alex Cora stated “Putting the ball in play is very important in those situations. We live in an era where hitting .210 while hitting 30 HRs and 70 RBI is acceptable—we don’t believe that…”
Cora’s philosophy of putting the ball in play carried them to a championship.
It was the same philosophy that won the Astros their championship last season, as they led the league in contact percentage and average with runners in scoring position.
The old adage states “if you can’t beat them, join them.”
In this case, if you can’t beat a team who makes contact, join the bandwagon and perpetuate that same philosophy in your team. It just may win you a title.