Boston Red Sox: Almost Perfect

Once upon a time, the Boston Red Sox were a team of almosts playing in a national treasure of a ball park.  For nearly a century, despite legends like Ted Williams and Carl Yazstremski, the Sox almost:  Won a World Series.  Won the American League pennant, had it not been for those pesky New York Yankees.  Stayed out of last place.

That changed in 2004, when the Red Sox finally won a Series after a nearly century-long drought.  They did it again in 2007 and 2013.  This year, they became the first team in this century to win four World Series championships when they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.  The pitching of David Price and Chris Sale, and the hitting of Steve Pearce and Jackie Bradley, Jr. made the difference for Boston.  Alex Cora became one of the few managers to win a Series in his first season.

Game 3 was notable for being the longest in World Series history, lasting 18 innings in nearly 7 1/2 hours. That's longer than the entire 1939 Series between the Yankees and Cincinnati Reds.  It was also the only game the Red Sox lost, as Max Muncy hit a solo home run into the midnight air at Dodger Stadium to win the game for L.A. in the 18th.  It was also 3:30 Saturday morning back East.

The Red Sox won 108 games during the regular season, then blew past the Yankees and Houston Astros (who both won more than 100 games) to win the American League pennant.  The Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies to win their division playoff, then defeated the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers for the National League championship.

Now that the Boston Red Sox are no longer the lovable losers with the iconic ballpark, they can concentrate on being one of the elite teams in Major League Baseball.  With the kind of season they had, there was nothing "almost" about it.  They were perfect.