World Series MVP: DH David Ortiz – Boston Red Sox

.688 AVG, 2 HR, 6 RBI

It’s amazing to see it happen in any sport.  A team that has one of the worst seasons in their franchise’s history one year and the very next year they end up winning the title.  It happened to the Boston Red Sox in 2013 where their 2012 season was one they would like to forget.  

They had basically the same team that had one of the worst September collapses in baseball history in 2011 going into the 2012 season.  Boston had changed their general manager and manager at the time and the results were pretty disastrous.  Bobby Valentine is a name that is now despised more than the New York Yankees in Boston.  He butted heads with Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz almost immediately.  The media never embraced him and the fans quickly turned on him.  Soon after the Red Sox completed one of the biggest trades in baseball history with the Los Angeles Dodgers in August.  

It was a lost season and not many expected the quick turn around even though the Red Sox hired John Farrell who is familiar with the atmosphere as the pitching coach under Terry Francona before he was hired by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2011.  Most of the players knew his style and immediately respected him as the manager. The question was whether the players the Red Sox signed would make immediate impacts or was this to keep the seat warm for the next guy?

Reliever Koji Uehara was not supposed to be the closer.  He was a reliable setup man from his previous stints in Baltimore and Texas, but wasn’t thought of as a closer until he was called upon to replace the injured high price closers in Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey. It turned out to be the best signing of the Red Sox 2012 offseason. He saved 7 games in 7 chances and was unhittable with his 16 strikeouts and .152 batting average against for the 2013 postseason.

Jonny Gomes has been bouncing around many baseball teams throughout his career, five to be exact counting Boston.  He certainly became a known character when he blasted a 3-run HR to put the Red Sox ahead in Game 4 in St. Louis.  Stephen Drew was having a dreadful postseason at the plate, but his solo HR in Game 6 really put behind any and all of his struggles before then.  Shane Victorino hit a grand slam in Game 6 of the ALCS against the Tigers to put Boston ahead for good.  His bases clearing double in Game 6 of the World Series started the celebration early even though that was his first hit of the World Series it came at a crucial moment.

That was really the theme of this World Series for the Red Sox.  Big hits at crucial moments.  Their pitching staff led by Jon Lester who matched and was even better than the Cardinals ace of Adam Wainwright in both of their head-to-head starts was great as well. The eventual MVP David Ortiz had 2 HR and 5 RBI through the first two games of the series, but he was always getting on base with key hits to setup some of the moments I mentioned earlier.  

With the Boston Marathon bombings happening during Patriots Day, which is a long adored tradition in Boston, this team already had a lot on its plate, but put much of that aside and rallied around the city during and long after the terrorist attack.  

It’s not far fetched to think that something truly special was happening during this season.  A team that played hard every day. A fan base that saw their teams determination and fed off it.  Not many teams were able to defeat the Red Sox this year and it was a sight to see them win their 3rd World Series title in 10 seasons.

Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox.  The 2013 World Series Champions.