World Series Championship Repeat Begins with Opening Day

The Boston Red Sox won 119 games last season and claimed their fourth title in 15 seasons, and they look to repeat as champions for just the second time in franchise history.

For the fourth time in the last 15 seasons, the Boston Red Sox open the season as the defending World Series champions of Major League Baseball; only time will tell whether Boston successfully defends its title against the other 29 teams. In three previous attempts, the closest the Red Sox came to doing so was in 2008, when they took the Tampa Bay Rays to seven games in the American League Championship Series but failed to win the deciding game. Boston also looks to defend its current run of three straight division titles, the longest streak in franchise history.

After winning 108 regular season games on their way to another 11 wins in the 2018 postseason, Alex Cora’s roster looks very much like the one he had for most of last season. In fact, the Opening Day roster includes only one player – Colten Brewer – who did not play for Boston last season. Spring training was, like last year, relatively quiet, and the Red Sox finished with 12 wins versus 17 losses and a tie. Perhaps the biggest news out of Fort Myers was a contract extension Boston gave to pitcher Chris Sale; the five-year, $145M payout ensures that he will stay with the team through 2024, unless he chooses to opt out after the 2022 season.

With the roster now final, let’s see who will be with the team in Seattle tonight when they start the season against the Mariners at T-Mobile Field (formally Safeco Field).

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New Manager But The Same Objective As 2018 Red Sox Season Begins

Besides sporting a rookie manager in Alex Cora, the 2018 Red Sox look very much like last year’s team, and the objective of winning a World Series has not changed.

It seems odd that a Major League Baseball team coming off back-to-back division titles would showcase a new manager the following season, but that’s the case for the Red Sox, who fired John Farrell at the conclusion of the 2017 season after five years with the club and replaced him with former Boston infielder and rookie manager Alex Cora. Expectations are already high for Cora, who was the bench coach for the 2017 World Series champion Houston Astros, to lead the club not only to another first place finish in the American League East but deep into the postseason after two straight division round exits.

Boston enjoyed a relatively successful if rather low-key spring training. Basking in the warmth of the Florida sun at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers while New England enjoy four March Nor’easters, the Red Sox went 22-9-1, winning 14 of their last 15 and five of six against the Minnesota Twins to claim the Mayor’s Cup (if that is still a thing). With the roster now final, baseball begins for real today in Tampa Bay with the Red Sox in town for four against the Rays; let’s catch up on the state of the team as Opening Day dawns across the league.

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Catching Up With The Red Sox As The 2017 Season Looms

Need a quick primer on the team as we launch into another season? Don’t worry, everyone; there is life after Big Papi.

Don’t look now, but the Boston Red Sox open the 2017 season at Fenway Park in just ten days. TEN DAYS! If you haven’t been following the fun at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers for the past month-plus – heck, if you haven’t kept up since the team was swept by Cleveland in the ALDS – then here is a quick summary to get you caught up with the local nine before they return north from sunny Fort Myers to chilly New England.

The Rotation

The Red Sox may have won the offseason last December when they sent top prospect Yoan Moncada and three other players to the White Sox in exchange for five time All-Star southpaw Chris Sale. Sale has not disappointed this spring; in 16 innings pitched in Grapefruit League action, he has struck out 20 with a WHIP of 1.06, and even held the Yankees, Boston’s biggest rival, to just two runs over six innings pitched on Tuesday in Tampa. Coupled with 2016 Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello, David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Steven Wright and backed by Drew Pomeranz and Kyle Kendrick, this rotation is arguably one of the best in the league, making the team early favorites to win another World Series.

Price will begin the season on the DL due to elbow issues that popped up during camp, but he is gaining strength day-by-day and, with effective monitoring and a full-blown throwing program, should return to the team within a month after the season begins. One pitcher who won’t return is Clay Buchholz whom, after ten up-and-down seasons with the Red Sox, Boston traded to the Phillies in December.

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2014 Red Sox Opening Day Roster Set

The 2014 Opening Day roster for the defending world champion Boston Red Sox has been set by manager John Farrell.

The defending 2013 world champion Boston Red Sox are set to open the 2014 regular reason tomorrow in Baltimore against the Orioles, an American League East division rival. The Red Sox, who surpassed the expectations of most prognosticators last season to win their third World Series in ten seasons, will be managed for a second year by John Farrell. After finishing the opening series, Boston will open Fenway Park this Friday versus the Milwaukee Brewers.

Many familiar faces remain on the roster from last season, including designated hitter and World Series MVP David Ortiz, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, outfielder Shane Victorino, starting pitchers Jon LesterJohn Lackey, and Clay Buchholz, and closer Koji Uehara. Another familiar face who returns as a starter will be shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who is the youngest player to open the season at that position for the Red Sox since Everett Scott in 1914, according to Gorden Edes at ESPNBoston.com.

Some of the new faces include veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski, outfielder Grady Sizemore, and reliever Edward Mujica. In what was a relatively quiet spring, Sizemore was the big story; returning to baseball after being limited to 112 games between 2010-2011 and no games over the past two season, he outperformed expectations and displaced Jackie Bradley, the expected starting center fielder, from the major league roster.

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Three Players, Long-Time Broadcaster Earn 2014 Red Sox Hall of Fame Honors

The Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame Class of 2014 is stacked with some impressive honorees, at least one who will be inducted into Cooperstown next year.

Nike Boston Red Sox 2014 Spring Training Grapefruit League Dri-FIT Performance T-Shirt - Red
Nike Boston Red Sox 2014 Spring Training Grapefruit League Dri-FIT Performance T-Shirt – Red

The Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame Class of 2014 is stacked with some impressive honorees, at least one who will be inducted into Cooperstown next year. Announced by the team this morning, this year’s class includes pitchers Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens, shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, and radio broadcaster Joe Castiglione. The team also selected one of Martinez’s greatest single game pitching performances as this year’s featured moment.

The Red Sox Hall of Fame, opened in 1995, honors players who spent at least three years with the Red Sox and have been out of uniform as an active player at least three years. Non-uniformed honorees and the memorable moment are chosen by a unanimous vote of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame Selection Committee, a 15-member committee of Red Sox broadcasters and executives, past and present media personnel, and representatives from The Sports Museum of New England and the BoSox Booster Club.

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2013 Boston Red Sox Are World Series Champions!

Majestic Boston Red Sox 2013 MLB World Series Champions World Domination Clubhouse Locker Room T-Shirt - Gray
Majestic Boston Red Sox 2013 MLB World Series Champions World Domination Clubhouse Locker Room T-Shirt – Gray

For the eighth time in team history and the third time in the past ten seasons, the Boston Red Sox are the world champions of baseball, winning the 2013 World Series championship thanks to a 6-1 win in Game Six.  David Ortiz was named the series MVP after batting .688 / .760 / 1.188 with 11 hits, including two home runs at six RBI. Down 2-1 after three games, Boston won three straight to close the series and clinch a world championship at Fenway Park for the first time since 1918, when the Red Sox beat the Chicago Cubs four games to two, with Carl Mays earning the win.

John Lackey picked up the win for Boston in the final game and became the first pitcher in league history to win the clinching game of a World Series twice, having done it once before in Game Seven of the 2002 World Series for the Anaheim Angels.  The Red Sox also became the first time to win three World Series in the 21st century.

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2013 World Series Begins Wednesday on FOX

The Boston Red Sox, winners of the American League pennant, and the St. Louis Cardinals, winners of the National League pennant, who have met three times before in postseason history, are set to kick off the 2013 World Series Wednesday night at Fenway ParkTickets are available and all games will be broadcast on the FOX Network.

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2013 Red Sox Opening Day Roster Set

With the disastrous 2012 campaign still fresh in the minds of fans and prognosticators, the Boston Red Sox will open the 2013 season against the 2012 American League East champion New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.  The Sox, who have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons, are predicted by many to finish no better than the middle of the pack in the AL East; only a few give the team an outside shot at a wild card spot.

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Johnny Pesky, Former Red Sox Infielder, Passes Away at Age 92

Former Boston Red Sox infielder Johnny Pesky, who was a loyal part of the Boston organization for more than 60 seasons, passed away today at the age of 92.  Pesky played eight seasons between 1942 and 1951, missing time between 1943 and 1945 serving in World War II, and also managed the club twice, first for two years between 1963 and 1964, and then briefly at the end of the 1980 season.

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