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Boston Red Sox 2018 Season Review: The good and the bad

By Kristen Bentley

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: Members of the Boston Red Sox pose for a team photograph as they celebrate after winning the 2018 World Series in game five against the Los Angeles Dodgers on October 28, 2018 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: Members of the Boston Red Sox pose for a team photograph as they celebrate after winning the 2018 World Series in game five against the Los Angeles Dodgers on October 28, 2018 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 28: Eduardo Nunez #36 of the Boston Red Sox holds up the World Series trophy as the Red Sox celebrate defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the 2018 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 28: Eduardo Nunez #36 of the Boston Red Sox holds up the World Series trophy as the Red Sox celebrate defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the 2018 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

The Boston Red Sox were very good last season. In fact, if you didn’t already know, they were the best team in the MLB in 2018.

Interestingly, the Boston Red Sox won the 2018 World Series under the direction of rookie manager Alex Cora, who led the team to a record 108 wins.

The Red Sox have only won 100 or more games a handful of times: 1946, 1915, 1912. The win-loss records in those previous 100-season wins were respectively .675, .669, and .691, which takes away a bit of the glory of winning 108 games, simply because the 2018 team cannot say they had the best record in Red Sox history. It was .667.

What is amazing about the Red Sox 108 wins is that they were not the only team in the AL East with notable wins in 2018. The Yankees won an even 100 games. And, the Tampa Bay Rays won 90 games. Compare this to the AL Central, where the division was won by the Cleveland Indians, who won 91 games. In the AL West, the Astros also won 103 games.

Many of those wins came at the expense of teams like the Baltimore Orioles, who won fewer games than the Red Sox lost.

In the 2017-2018 off-season was highlighted by the J.D. Martinez signing. He joined a team stacked with All-Stars like Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Chris Sale, and Craig Kimbrel. Martinez proved to be just what the BoSox needed to win the last game of the years.

But, Martinez didn’t do it alone. By the time the Sox got to the World Series, they had been firing on all cylinders for some time. And, as the 2019 season approaches, the core of the World Series team will be back to try to do it again.

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