Welcome to New Ringland: the Boston Red Sox are the 2018 World Series Champions

Lily O’Connor

Staff Writer

In case you missed it, the Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018 World Series to become this year’s baseball world champions. Whether you’re a diehard Boston sports fan, yelling “the Sox are wicked awesome” at the World Series Parade, or really not a baseball fan at all, I’d argue that you can feel the atmosphere on campus change as positive energy increases and much of the student body unites under a strong love and pride for Massachusetts.

With a 108-54 (.667) record, winning the American League East division title over the second place rival New York Yankees, the Sox proceeded into the series red hot, and motivated for their ninth World Series win. The Dodgers entered the playoffs as the second seed with a 92-71 (.564) record, despite a slower start to the season, and rang victorious through the playoffs, ready to face the Sox.

The first game of the World Series, played at Fenway Park, was a win for the Red Sox, with a final score of 8-4.  The game remained relatively close until Eduardo Núñez  hit a three-run home run for the Sox in the seventh inning, giving them the lead of four that cliched the first win of the series.

Game 2 followed at Fenway, with the Red Sox again reigning victorious.  Ending with a score of 4-2, David Price demonstrated his skill pitching for the Red Sox, while Dodgers pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu fell a little short in his performance. This resulted in the Sox scoring three runs in the fifth inning.

Game 3 was easily the most nerve-wracking for supporters of either team. Played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, the Dodgers grabbed their first win of the series in an 18-inning game. The final score was 3-2. Tied at 1-1 in the eighth inning, the game went into extra innings, remaining scoreless until the 13th inning, in which both teams again scored, keeping the score tied. The game ended when the Dodgers’ Max Muncy hit the game-winning home run in the 18th inning. This game goes down in history as the longest World Series game.

Following the Dodgers’ first win was another home game for them; Game 4 yielded a 9-6 win for the Red Sox, leaving them one last win to become world champions.  The game was scoreless until the sixth inning, where the Dodgers took the lead. Eight innings ended tied 4-4. In the ninth inning, both teams secured runs, but the Sox came through as the winners.

The final game of the 2018 World Series was played at Dodger Stadium and led to the Red Sox winning the 2018 World Series. The final score was 5-1; the Dodgers did not score after the first inning. This was Alex Cora’s first year as manager, where he became the fifth first-season manager to win the World Series, and the first manager from Puerto Rico to win the World Series. Steve Pearce was named MVP after this game for his success in helping to lead the team to this tremendous win.

This is the ninth World Series win for the Red Sox, one of four wins since 2004. The win was also notable for the Sox, as they are the first team to win a World Series exactly a century after another win (beating the Chicago Cubs in 1918). Overall, as a proud Sox fan, I see the team as absolutely electric, and look forward to many more wins, World Series and otherwise.