Boston Red Sox: The franchise all-time bracket

Boston Red Sox fans have nine World Series winners to pick from, though famously none between 1919 and 2003. Let’s take a closer look.

The Boston Red Sox are one of the most successful teams in major league history. Since the franchise’s creation in 1901, Boston teams have a .519 regular-season percentage, 14 American League pennants and nine World Series wins.

Those statistics belie the franchise’s historic reputation for failing to win the big game, exemplified by that 85-year stretch from 1919 to 2003 when it failed to win a World Series. Prior to 1919, Red Sox teams had won five World Series – including the first won – and they have added four more since 2004.

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In comprising an all-time Red Sox bracket, there is, then a lot to choose from. It’s appropriate to begin with those four World Champions of the past two decades. While it would be overly generous to allot four bracket spots to that period, three is not out of the question. The 2007 team, which won the fewest regular-season games, is the logical omission.

From the early period, the 1912 team is the strongest representative. Not only did that team win the World Series, but it also won 105 games, a franchise record until exceeded by the 2018 Sox.

That leaves four spots available for the great Red Sox teams of the vast middle of the 20th Century. Those choices are pretty obvious: the pennant winners of 1946, 1967, 1975 and 1986. Not only were they all quality teams, but there is a synoptic spread to their chronology, occurring as they do every decade or two.

The format is identical to previous bracket challenges. Each matchup in the tournament is decided based on seven criteria. You can think of each as a ‘game,’ the winner of four games advancing. The seven criteria are:

1. Game 1: Regular season winning percentage.
2. Game 2: Post-season winning percentage
3. Game 3: Team OPS+
4. Game 4: Team ERA
5. Game 5 (if necessary): Team WAR
6. Game 6 (if necessary: Fielding percentage above the league average for the season in question.
7. Game 7 (if necessary): The standard for Game 7 is Hall of Famers or likely future Hall of Famers.