Winning in extra innings is fairly common; Boston played bonus baseball 18 times in 2017, amassing a surprising 15-3 mark in those instances. Shutouts are also not unusual; Boston blanked its opponent in 11 games last season. All that stated, winning in extra innings while shutting out your opponent? That is somewhat unique. According to Baseball-Reference.com, since 1908, there have been only 32 instances where the Red Sox shut out their opponent but needed extra frames to secure the win.

Between 1912 and 1918, a span of seven seasons that saw the Red Sox win four World Series championships, Boston needed extra frames in 12 instances to win, including three games against Cleveland in 1918. Two of those games against the Indians came on back-to-back days, but not in back-to-back games, as the first shutout came in the first game of a doubleheader on 08 July.

Additionally, a game between the Red Sox and St. Louis Browns on 14 July 1916 at Fenway Park ended in a 0-0 tie after 17 innings. Ernie Koob went the distance for the visitors, while Carl Mays pitched the first 15 innings for Boston and Dutch Leonard tossed the final two. The Red Sox have one other instance in their history of a game that went to extra innings and ended in a 0-0 tie; that game came on 08 September 1929 against the Browns that was scoreless after ten innings. Likely because it was the second game of a doubleheader and that it came well before the Red Sox installed lights at Fenway did the game end when it did. Ironically, that game was a make up of a rain out from 25 July.

Since 1931, a span of nearly 88 seasons, there have only been 20 additional instances of the Red Sox shutting out their opponent in extra innings. Surprisingly, since 2011, Boston has accomplished this feat five times; more improbably, they have done it three times over the past two seasons: twice against Baltimore and once against Pittsburgh. Perhaps the most nail-biting of the most recent affairs came in 2011, when the Red Sox needed 16 innings to shut out the Rays 1-0 in Tampa, with Dustin Pedroia driving home Josh Reddick with two outs in the top of the frame and Jonathan Papelbon coming in to get the final three outs and preserve the win.

In team history, only five players have had at least two three-home-run games: Betts, Williams, Mo Vaughn, Jim Rice, and Nomar Garciaparra, the latter three having done it exactly twice. Famously, Garciaparra had two grand slams and ten RBI in his first game and totaled three slams and 18 RBI over his two games; in comparison, Betts has 19 RBI over his four games. Other Red Sox players who have had at least one grand slam in a three-home-run game include Williams, Norm Zauchin, Jim Tabor (two in his one game), Bill Mueller (two in his one game), and Jack Clark.

Betts also joins some elite company in Major League Baseball as one of only 17 players to have four or more three-home-run games. The current record is six games, which is held by Sammy Sosa and Johnny Mize. Five players have done it five times: Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Dave Kingman, Carlos Delgado, and Joe Carter. After that, tied with Betts with four games each are Willie Stargell, Aramis Ramirez, Albert Pujols, Larry Parrish, Ralph Kiner, Lou Gehrig, Steve Finley, Barry Bonds, and Ernie Banks.

Of these players, only Delgado and Gehrig hit four home runs in a game, a high water mark held collectively by 16 major league players; no Red Sox player has ever accomplished this rare feat.

In team history, 18 other players have hit at least three home runs in a game, including two current teammates, Hanley Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia. Ramirez accomplished the feat on 20 July 2016 against the San Francisco Giants at Fenway Park, while Pedroia hit three in a game back on 24 June 2010 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Of note: of all MLB players who have had multiple three home run games, not one has done it for Boston and at least one other team.

Kimbrel joins Pedro Martinez and Clay Buchholz as the only three Red Sox pitchers to strike three batters on nine pitches in a half-inning. Martinez accomplished his feat almost 15 years ago to the date — 18 May 2002 — in the first inning of a game against the Seattle Mariners, while Buchholz did so in the sixth inning of a game against the Baltimore Orioles on 16 August 2012.

The Red Sox have also been victimized by four opposing pitchers in this fashion. The first was Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers in the ninth inning of a game on 02 August 1959. Nolan Ryan was the next to accomplish this while pitching for the California Angels on 09 July 1972; he has done the same thing four years earlier with the New York Mets, making him one of four pitchers in MLB history to do so twice and the only one to do so in each league.

Roger Clemens was the next pitcher to fan the side on nine pitches, doing so in the first inning of a game on 18 September 1997 while pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays; it also marked one year to the day that he had struck out 20 batters in a game in one of his last appearances with the Red Sox. The most recent pitcher to accomplish the feat was Justin Masterson, who set down all three batters “by way of the K” on 02 June 2014 while pitching for the Cleveland Indians.

Of note: John Clarkson of the Boston Beaneaters, later to become the Atlanta Braves, is the first pitcher in MLB history to accomplish this feat, striking out Jim Fogarty, Sam Thompson, and Sid Farrar in the third inning of a game against the Philadelphia Quakers, later renamed the Phillies, on 04 June 1889. This makes him the only pitcher to have tossed an immaculate inning in the 19th century.

The home run also proved to be number 504 in Big Papi’s career, which ties him with Eddie Murray for 26th all-time in MLB history. After Murray, his next target on the all-time list would be Gary Sheffield (509), followed by Mel Ott (511), Ernie Banks (512) and Eddie Matthews (also 512). He now also has 446 home runs with the Red Sox, which puts him six behind Carl Yastrzemski for second place (452) and well behind Ted Williams with 521, whom he has a chance to catch only in the career total category.

How to determine the franchise record for Opening Day home runs depends on how you define the criteria. In terms of home run totals, use of the Play Index at Baseball-Reference.com (purchase a subscription if you don’t already have one) reveals the following:

Yaztrzemski and Evans are tied at the top for home runs hit on five separate Opening Days, but Yaz bests Dewey by one in the total home run department thanks to two home runs hit in the opener in 1968 versus the Detroit Tigers. Likewise, Pedroia is currently tied with three others players (Williams, Rice, and Ortiz) with home runs in three individual openers, but he has four total courtesy of the two he hit in last year’s opener in Philadelphia versus the Phillies.

Other players who have hit home runs for the Red Sox on different Opening Days include Jason Varitek, Trot Nixon, Tim Naehring, Jackie Jensen, Bobby Doerr, and Tony Conigliaro.

For the curious, the major league record in terms of home run totals across multiple Opening Day contests is eight, held by Frank Robinson (eight individual games), Ken Griffey Jr. (seven games), and Adam Dunn (six games).

There is no question from anyone who has watched him over his eight-plus seasons with Boston that he has been an invaluable contributor to its recent success and there’s a possibility that we have not seen him pitch for the last time in a Red Sox uniform. So how does he compare to others greats who have pitched for this franchise?

In franchise history, there have been 133 lefties who have started at least one game for the Red Sox. We looked at Baseball-Reference.com‘s Play Index and narrowed the search to those pitchers who toed the rubber for at least 100 games with Boston as a starter.

Top Career ERA+

Top Career WAR

Top Career WHIP

Grove, who is the only pitcher to notch his 300th victory in a Red Sox uniform, pitched eight seasons between 1934 and 1941. His ERA+ of 134 and WAR of 44.7 leads the franchise in both categories for left-handed pitchers. He is also sixth all-time in WHIP. Leonard, who pitched six seasons between 1913 and 1918 and was part of three World Series championships, has the second-best ERA+ in franchise history (134), is fourth in WAR (27.2), and third in WHIP (1.136), putting him very close to Grove.

Also showing up on all three lists is Ruth who, while better known for changing the game of baseball with his bat, was part of the same three world championships as Leonard and has the third-best ERA+ in franchise history for southpaws. Collins, while perhaps not as well-known to casual Red Sox fans, is also on all three lists, playing for two world champions in 1912 and 1915 and currently sitting at number two in franchise history for WHIP (1.134).

Lester, upon close examination, certainly matches well in all three categories. His ERA+ of 120 places him fifth behind Ruth, his WAR of 31.0 places him second only to Grove, and his WHIP puts him fifth in that category. Also consider that, save for Collins and Tannehill, every other player listed here is a member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame, and it’s probably a safe bet to say that he will someday be there, too.

Big Papi is far and away the leader in most offensive categories as a designated hitter: most plate appearances (7188), most hits (1779), most doubles (450), most home runs (385), and most RBI (1256). Counting only players with at least 2000 plate appearances as a DH, his OPS of .941 ranks second to Edgar Martinez (.959).

Not surprisingly, Ortiz is far and above the leader in franchise history.

Then there are those who use that one season to showcase their talents, performing at a level perhaps unexpected. Every plate appearance seems to produce, every play in the field seems fluid and flawless, and the sportswriters and fans watch in awe and amazement.

To compile this list, we considered positional players — pitchers will be examined in a later post — with a minimum of 500 PA and only one season played between 2001 and 2012; we discounted 2013 players since a percentage of them may return this season. All statistics are compiled from Baseball-Reference.com.

Top Single Season OPS+

Top Single Season WAR

Top Single Season Offensive WAR

Top Single Season Defensive WAR

Clearly, Adrian Beltre walks away with the title of having the best single season performance by a position player in team history. His 141 OPS+ and his WAR of 7.8 place him at the top of each list shown here, and what is further impressive is that his dWAR of 2.4 made him valuable on both sides of the ball, whether he was holding a bat or wearing his third baseman’s glove. Beltre has continue to showcase those talents since leaving Boston for the Texas Rangers as a free agent after the 2010 season, with an average OPS+ of 136 and a total WAR of 18.2, though his dWAR has steadily declined as he has reached his mid-30s.

Nick Esasky is another player of note who, while lacking defensively (his dWAR in 1989 was -0.6, primarily as a first baseman), finished with an above-average OPS+ of 133 and a WAR of 3.9 in what proved to be his best statistical season. Unfortunately, after signing a substantial free agent contract with the Atlanta Braves, Esasky played just nine more games in his career due to vertigo stemming from an ear infection, which forced him to retire from baseball at the age of 30.

His career appearances at shortstop is by and far the most by a player in a Yankees uniform; Phil Rizzuto is a distant second with 1647 appearances, while Frankie Crosetti is third with 1516. He has also played the most games of anyone in a Yankees uniform, 2602, which is over 200 more than the great Mickey Mantle.

In contrast, over the same time period, the shortstop position has been remarkably fluid for the Boston Red Sox, especially since 2004 when the team traded away perennial All-Star Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs at the deadline. Since 2005, no player has held that role for longer than two seasons and only one player has started at least 150 games in a single season.

The following is a season-by-season comparison of Jeter’s statistics, including adjusted OPS (OPS+), range factor per nine innings (RF/9), which measures the average number of outs in which a player participated over nine innings, and wins above replacement (WAR). All statistics are compiled from Baseball-Reference.com.

In comparison, the following is a list of Red Sox players who have made the most starts at short by season since 1996.

In terms of offensive value, Jeter has by far had better numbers in terms of adjusted OPS when compared to his Boston counterpart, made even more noticeable since Garciaparra’s departure. The high water mark for the Red Sox since 2004 was last season, when Drew posted an OPS+ of 111, just slightly better than Scutaro’s 110 in 2011.

In terms of defensive value, Jeter has rarely posted numbers much better than his Red Sox counterpart in terms of range factor per nine. Only twice in the past 18 seasons has Jeter posted a better average than his Boston counterpart.

Overall, Jeter’s wins above replacement, which measures both offensive and defensive value, have been considerably better; only two Red Sox shortstops have posted a WAR better than 2.0 — again, Drew (2013) and Scutaro (2010 and 2011).

Last week, David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox was named as the recipient of the 2013 Silver Slugger Award for the designated hitter position. It marked the sixth time in the past ten seasons that “Big Papi” has won the award, and the second time in the past three seasons. It extended his record for the most awards at that position, ahead of former players Paul Molitor and Edgar Martinez; his six awards also ties him with Red Sox legends Wade Boggs and Manny Ramirez for the most in team history.

Never was Big Papi’s offensive production more apparent and more valuable this season than in the Fall Classic, when he batted .688 (11-for-16) with two home runs, six RBI, seven runs scored, a .760 on-base percentage, and a 1.188 slugging percentage while making just five outs in six World Series games. He also tied a series record by reaching base in nine straight appearances, which helped him to easily walk away with the 2013 World Series MVP award.

The following is a breakdown of the six seasons that Ortiz has won the award:

According to Louisville Slugger, sponsors of the award: “Coaches and managers of Major League teams vote for the players they feel are the best offensive producers at each position in the field in both the American and National Leagues. They base their selections on a combination of offensive statistics including batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, as well as the coaches’ and managers’ general impressions of a player’s overall offensive value.”

With Boston’s 15-5 win Wednesday night in Colorado, the Red Sox now stand at 96-63 with three games to play this season.  The 96 wins matches the same number of games won by the 2007 world championship team. This is made even more remarkable given that the team won just 69 games last season, its worst season since 1965, when Boston limped to a record of 62-100.

In franchise history, only six other teams have won more games in a single season:

• The 1912 team boasts the best record in franchise history, a record of 105-47; that club also won the World Series over the New York Giants four games to three. It is the only Series that featured a game which ended in a tie; the second game was called after 11 innings due to darkness with the teams tied at six.
• The 1946 team finished 104-50 and lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. This was Ted Williams‘ only World Series appearance; he was injured in an exhibition contest prior to the series and, although he refused to use it as an excuse, batted just .200 (5-for-25) with one RBI over all seven games.
• The 1915 squad finished 101-50 and bested the Philadelphia Phillies four games to one in the Fall Classic.  It was the first of two straight world championship titles for the Red Sox, the only instance in club history of back-to-back titles.
• The 1978 club finished tied with the Yankees at 99-63. Forced into a one-game playoff at Fenway Park, New York edged Boston 5-4 thanks to Bucky Dent’s surprise three-run home run. Officially, the team’s final record is 99-64.
• The 2004 Red Sox finished 98-64, then won its first World Series in 86 years with a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. This came on the heels of a American League Championship Series win over the Yankees, who had led three games to none in the series before Boston stormed back and won the final four games.
• Finally, the 1977 team finished 97-64, but that was only good enough for a tie for second place with the Baltimore Orioles in the seven-team American League East division. First place went to the Yankees, who finished 100-62 and later won the World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games.

In total, 29 teams in franchise history have won 90 games or more in a season; 16 of those teams have appeared in the postseason.