JackGawason and Blake Doherty
Staff Writers
With a season full of twists and turns, we finally came to a close on Sunday, Oct. 28,
in Los Angeles. As unfortunate as it is to say (coming from a fan of the New
York Yankees), the Boston Red Sox defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018
Major League Baseball World Series.
After winning their respected league championship, the Los Angeles
Dodgers and Boston Red Sox met together in the 2018 World Series to solidify
their team as the best in baseball. Before the best of seven series, the Boston
Red Sox came in as the favorites after their historic regular season, winning
108 of the 162 games played in the regular season. This record paired with the
home-field advantage the American league won after winning in the all-star game
against the National league in July, the road for a Red Sox victory was paved.
Game one saw Boston capitalize off of a rough pitching performance
from Clayton Kershaw, who has known to not reach his potential in the
postseason. The Sox scored five runs, knocking Kershaw off the mound in the
fifth inning. They would later score three more runs, extending their lead.
Chris Sale pitched four strong innings before turning the game over to the
bullpen, in an 8-4 win for Boston.
Advertised as a great game, Game three lived up to the hype. A
much closer game between the two teams ended with the score 4-2 in favor of
another Boston win. Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched a good game for the Dodgers, but was
not his best, which resulted in four runs in less than five innings. On the
other side, David Price was performance was stellar, pitching six strong
innings. He only surrendered two runs on three hits, while striking out five.
In the fifth, the score tied at two, J.D Martinez continued his legendary
season with a two-run single. The 4-2 lead proved to be enough, when closer
Craig Kimbrel recorded his second consecutive save and extended the series with
another win closer to the championship for the Red Sox.
Two days later and across the country in California, Walker
Buehler took the mound for the Dodgers against Boston’s Rick Porcello. These
two pitchers, unknowing at the time of the start, would be participating in the
longest game in World Series history. The game would finally end in the
eighteenth inning by a walk-off home run hit by the newest Dodger sensation Max
Muncy. But before 3:30 a.m. eastern time, 12:30 a.m. western time when this
historic game was officially in the books there were many memorable moments.
The Dodgers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third after Joc Pederson went deep. This
would be enough through the seventh, rookie Walker Buehler was dealing,
pitching the best game of the series. Once all-star closer, Kenley Jansen, the
game appeared over but it was just the beginning. Centerfielder Jackie Bradley
Jr. quickly homered tying the game at one. Then in the thirteenth, the two
teams would trade runs leaving the game at 2-2. Standout performer Nathan
Eovaldi pitched six very good innings out of the bullpen before surrendering
the final run, the homer to Muncy.
Down 2-0 in the series, the Dodgers showed their fight in game
three and headed into game four one down one game. With almost, every man used
the previous day both coaches Dave Roberts and Alex Cora were in need of some
big-time players and they got just that. Both starting pitchers started strong
getting into the middle of the game with Alex Wood having more success than
Eduardo Rodriguez. Costly bullpen play from the Dodgers allowed the Red Sox to
score nine runs beating the Dodgers 9-4.
Up 3-1 it was looking like the Red Sox series. The games two
starters were David Price and Clayton Kershaw, two elite pitchers. Price was
fantastic only making one mistake in the first inning surrounding a home run to
postseason legend David Freese. But gave the Red Sox’s everything they needed
and more going seven innings. Unfortunately, slowly watching their season come
to an end Kershaw allowed four runs, Pedro Baez allowed one, and Jansen pitched
the ninth. It was ultimately not enough losing 5-1 as the Red Sox were crowned
world champions. Steve Pearce was rewarded with World Series MVP honors after
recording four hits in only twelve at-bats scoring many key runs throughout the
series.
