Pulling up the Sox

The way the Boston Red Sox clinched the World Series this past week is almost too corny to be true.

Sadly, there’s no way around it: the will to win triumphed over raw talent.

It goes against the raw analytics and detailed statistics that have elevated baseball to new levels over the past 20 years. Nobody who combs through performances and trends wants to hear about players hitting well when the need is greatest or teams finding themselves hand delivered to glory by momentum and emotion.

Teams shouldn’t win everything a year after finishing with nothing, being placed last in their division like Boston were when they had a real crack at being the worst team in all of baseball in 2012, losing 93 games, therefore helping to finally bring tickets for their ballpark a few grades lower than gold dust.

Often in American sport, an unlikely recovery like that can be attributed to recruiting the next best thing as reward for finishing bottom of the pile. That sort of battle for equity is aimed at floating all the boats in a billion-dollar industry but it’s really only lowly teams in the NFL and the NBA who tend to benefit.

The Red Sox could never be described as a small team in need of emergency care. But having tasted ultimate glory in 2004 after 86 years of misery, then hammering the point home in 2007 with a ruthless efficiency that confirmed the bad old days were over, it turned out fortunes could indeed nosedive again.

The famous old ball club which celebrated a century at the beautiful Fenway Park in April of 2012 marked that occasion against the backdrop of player acrimony. The long-term manager, Terry Francona, who had steered them through those glorious seasons was sacked in a grubby manner after he lost the dressing room in the most spectacular fashion.

But of course the tell-all book wasn’t far behind the pomp and ceremony of Fenway in April and the conniving underbelly of the Red Sox ownership (the same men in control of Liverpool FC) was exposed for all to see. As the Sox sputtered their way through summer, faith in the franchise reached a nadir. Success seemed too far away to even bear thinking about.

This is baseball though and there’s always some trigger-happy ball club with a fat cheque book waiting around the corner. At the height of summer, the LA Dodgers took over the contracts of a few of the biggest earning, under-performing Red Sox players in one dramatic swoop before the trade deadline.

That decision ended up benefiting both clubs. The Dodgers were happy to make a dramatic purchase to regenerate their own ailing team and the fruits of it were there for all to see this past summer. And the Red Sox, suddenly relieved of the deadweight clogging up their salary cap space, were free to try a different approach: build the team around long-term servants and bargain-basement veterans who would enjoy the experience of playing in Beantown and not feel encumbered by the daft pressures of the local media.

A new manager, John Farrell, was brought in and, as they got down to work,including getting two key pitchers back in proper shape, the Red Sox stormed out of the gate, spurred on by a lease of life as complete underdog: “Things couldn’t have been worse last year so let’s just swing for the fences,” said Farrell.

The hard bit in 2004 and, to a lesser extent, in 2007 was qualifying out of the American League to take part in the World Series. Once the Boston Red Sox got there, they swept aside their National League opponents, the St Louis Cardinals and Colorado Rockies, without giving up a game.

Those two sets of 4-0 victories meant that because Boston started with home advantage, the clinching game was away from home, and Fenway Park was deprived of seeing the glory unfold on its own hallowed turf. Not that those victories were rendered hollow for long but there was always a small hankering for more. Indeed to this day, it’s the incredible 2004 comeback against the hated Yankees in the American League series decider which trumps any other holy grail garnered along the way.

Boston fans finally scratched that World Series itch on Wednesday courtesy of a tight, captivating series against the National League-winning Cardinals. They brought a 3-2 lead back home from Missouri and, since they needed only one win from the two remaining games, the chances were good that the Red Sox would deliver the ultimate victory in front of their own supporters for the first time since 1918, back when Babe Ruth was still a pitcher and, more importantly, still their pitcher.

Different players inspired at different moments but for decades the legacy of this season will belong to David Ortiz, “Big Papi”, the lethal Dominican slugger with a mischievous grin and uncanny knack to save his best for when he knows he’s centre stage. A more fitting World Series MVP would be impossible to construct.

“This is for you, Boston. You guys deserve it,” Ortiz told 38,447 fans packed into the 101-year-old stadium. “We’ve been through a lot this year, and this is for all of you and all those families who struggled.”

As a mark of respect to that horrible day in April, the Boston Marathon bombings which tore the city apart, the Red Sox wore “Boston Strong” logos on their left sleeves, erected a large emblem on the Green Monster wall at left field and moved the logo onto the expanse of grass at centre-field. It was, of course, a source of inspiration as much as a reminder.

“There is a civil responsibility wearing this uniform, particularly here in Boston,” said manager Farrell. “And it became a connection initially, the way our guys reached out to individuals or to hospital visits. And it continued to build throughout the course of the season. I think our fans, they got to a point where they appreciated the way we played, how they cared for one another. And in return, they gave these guys an incredible amount of energy to thrive on in this ballpark.”

A 30/1 underdog to win the World Series during the winter, Boston are now the only other team besides the Minnesota Twins of 1991 who went from worst to first.

“When the fireworks went off at the presentation of the trophy, when the ballpark was filled with smoke, it was surreal,” Farrell added. “Given where we’ve come from, there’s been a lot that’s happened in 13 months.”