Among the 25 World Series champions since 2000, how did the 2013 Red Sox land in this spot?
The 2013 Red Sox were Ben Cherington’s first team as general manager. Not in the sense of it was the first year that he was Boston’s GM, but in that he had full control over who would even be part of the roster.
The massive disappointments and payroll of 2011 and 2012, leftover from the Theo Epstein era, were no more once Cherington shipped a quarter-billion in future contracts to the Dodgers in August of 2012, freeing him up to bring in Mike Napoli, Stephen Drew, Ryan Dempster, Shane Victorino, Koji Uehara, David Ross and Jonny Gomes. All of them save Dempster performed at the high-end of expectations: when paired with Dustin Pedroia doing his usual excellent combination of high-on-base offense and even better defense, David Ortiz’s power and patience, and a rotation that featured Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester and John Lackey, the worst-to-first turnaround made an obvious sense.
Pedroia, Ortiz and Victorino had star-level performances: Victorino was not only a fan favorite for his high-energy play across Fenway’s odd right field dimensions, but he hit .294/351/.451, led the team in steals (23 for 27) and bested even standouts Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury in defensive wins above replacement. Besides Ortiz, this was not a lineup built on power: the Red Sox were second in hits overall, third in walks — just eight behind the league-leading Rays, however — second in batting average and first in on-base percentage. They were also first in slugging, but not because of home runs: they were first in doubles with 363, 41 more than the next-best club, and “just” sixth in home runs. It was a group effort: that the lineup lacked an easy out was a problem opposing pitchers never solved.
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While the Red Sox didn’t get ace-caliber seasons from either of Lester or Lackey, the pair of Boston veterans were still the kind of No. 2 starters a championship team needs. Dempster was disappointing, but did soak up 171 innings, while 25-year-old Félix Doubront did more than enough with the offense Boston had. Clay Buchholz was the ace when he was on the mound: he posted a 1.74 ERA, but across just 16 starts, earning decisions in 13 of them to the tune of a 12-1 record. Buchholz missed the middle of the season, but returned before the postseason and made another five starts there. The bullpen was anchored by Koji Uehara — a closer who received both Cy Young and MVP votes — but also included Junichi Tazawa (3.16 ERA), Craig Breslow (1.81), Andrew Miller (2.64) and former closer Andrew Bailey (3.77). There wasn’t much relief depth behind this crew, but Boston didn’t need the help, either, especially after moving Doubront to the pen in October.
Boston once again faced St. Louis in the World Series, and took the 2004 rematch four games to two. The Cardinals were up 2-1 to start; the Red Sox then won Game 4, 5 and 6 in a row for their third World Series title in 10 seasons.
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