By: William Burns
Just as they did in the earlier rounds of the playoffs, the Boston Red Sox made light work of the Los Angeles Dodgers. After cruising through the American League and knocking off the two next best teams to themselves, the Red Sox took what they deserved: A World Series title.
The series started with two games in Boston, giving the Red Sox a considerable advantage over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The bout featured a battle between aces Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale. Both pitchers went only four innings, and 10 more pitchers made appearances in the game. The Red Sox won the game 8-4 on the backs of Andrew Benintendi, who had four hits in five at-bats and scored three runs, and pinch-hitter Eduardo Nunez who blasted a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to break the game open. The Red Sox ended the game with 11 hits and no errors. Clayton Kershaw served up two runs for Boston in the first inning, but his team got them back in it scoring a run in the second and third innings to tie the game, before relinquishing the lead again in the bottom of the third. The Dodgers again tied it at three, and then, like before, they gave it up as the Red Sox came back and scored two more runs to make it 5-3 after the first five innings. The Dodgers scored once more in the seventh to bring them within one until the Red Sox put the game away with the three-run bottom of the seventh. The Dodgers’ offense was not bad, but their pitching did not perform as expected, allowing the game to go to Boston.
The second game at Boston also went in favor of the Red Sox. The Sox jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the second; however, the Dodgers came around in the fourth, and two men crossed the plate, giving them a two to one lead, also lightening the pressure on their pitcher. Once again though, the Red Sox offense proved that it is elite, and busted out three runs in the bottom of the fifth, taking a four to two lead over the Dodgers. David Price, normally a shaky postseason starter got the win against Ryu. Ryu lasted four and two-thirds innings for the Dodgers, and the bullpen locked it down from there on out, but the damage was done; the Red Sox bullpen was throwing heat, and the Dodgers were unable to score again, leaving the game in the hands of Boston, who won four to two. This gave Boston a two games to none lead in the best of seven series. If Los Angeles wanted to come back, they had their work cut out for them.
Game three kicked off the three-game stint that the away team in the series gets to enjoy. Boston sent Rick Porcello to the mound, in the hopes of winning their third straight game of the series, to oppose Walker Beuhler for the Dodgers. This game was a dogfight the entire way. The Dodgers took the first lead, scoring one run off of a Joc Pederson home run in the bottom of the third. Beuhler worked deep into the game and held Boston to two hits over seven innings while striking out seven Red Sox batters. However, Boston struck back on the reliever with a home run of their own and tied it up at one run apiece in the eighth inning. The score held at one each until the 13th inning where both teams scored off of errors, keeping the game tied, but this time at two runs each. Fans continued to get free baseball until the bottom of the 18th inning when Max Muncy blasted a walk-off home run for the Dodgers. Muncy hit this home run off of reliever Nathan Eovaldi, who is a starter for Boston but had pitched six innings in relief, which was more than Porcello, Boston’s starting pitcher threw. The game lasted seven hours and 20 minutes long and consisted of 561 pitches. This long game cut into sleep for the teams, as there was no break between games three and four.
In game four, Boston put starter Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound to face off against Los Angeles’ Rich Hill. Hill silenced the Boston bats for six innings and was backed up by Yasiel Puig’s three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Hill ended the game after six and one-third innings, giving up one run, one hit, three walks and striking out seven. Boston was shaken, down four in the seventh inning, with only one hit on the night was quite unusual. Maybe the marathon game the night before had taken a toll on the Red Sox? However, the relentless offense that won 108 games in the regular season pulled it off again. A three-run home run in the seventh pulled the game within one. A solo home run in the eighth tied the game at four each. To complete it all, the Red Sox roped together multiple hits in the ninth inning to bust out for five more runs, pushing the game to a score of nine to four. The Dodgers, who saw the game flash before their eyes, tried valiantly to come back in the ninth, but all they got was a two-run home run off the bat of Enrique Hernandez. This game that the Dodgers, and Boston for that matter, thought was over in the sixth inning was turned around as the Red Sox crossed the plate nine times in the last three innings to take the game, and a series lead of three games to one.
Game five was a must win for Los Angeles, and they knew it. They ran out ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw in the hopes of shutting down Boston’s dream of winning the World Series that game to face Boston starting pitcher David Price. Game five was a game of home runs for both teams. Boston’s Steve Pearce hit a two-run bomb in the top of the first to set the tone for the game, only to be followed by Los Angeles’ David Freese hitting a solo shot in the bottom of the first to bring it within one. After the first inning, both pitchers settled down and kept the bats quiet for four innings, until the top of the sixth when Mookie Betts snapped the quiet streak for Boston and hit a solo shot of his own out to left-center field. The Dodgers had no answer, and then again in the seventh, veteran slugger J.D. Martinez put his power on display again, and delivered another solo shot which ultimately chased Clayton Kershaw from the game. With the score now four to one in favor of Boston, the Dodgers spirit was crushed. They failed to score again but let up another solo home run to Steve Pearce in the eighth inning to make the final score five to one and completing the Red Sox’s brutal march through the playoffs, and securing the World Series title.
Coming into this series, it was clear that Boston far outclassed its national league opponent. The Dodgers did sweep Atlanta in the Divisional Series but took all seven games to get past the Milwaukee Brewers to win the league. Boston, on the other hand, had no trouble eliminating New York, the third best team in baseball, and Houston, the second-best team in baseball. This proved that Boston really was the undisputed No. 1 team in baseball and shutting down the Dodgers in five games is just the cherry on top. So why did Los Angeles lose these games? Bad single innings. In their first three losses, if you removed the big innings for Boston, or held them to only one run in those innings, the Dodgers would have won the series in four games!
When was the series really over? The series was unofficially over after game four. The Dodgers blew a four to zero lead in spectacular fashion but giving up nine runs in three innings in a game they believed to be over. This crushed their soul and powered up a team that is quite dangerous when they get momentum.
How did Boston do it? Boston won this game by power of the bats. Each team had their share of pitching woes, but there was one major difference between these two teams from the start: Boston had nine guys in the batting order who were all dangerous; there were no easy outs for the Dodgers to breathe on. The relentless power and speed up and down the lineup wore on the Dodgers’ pitching staff and ultimately led to breakdowns, where the Red Sox would pile on three to five runs in an inning and ultimately put the game away for good.
