Ex-Red Sox Star Pitcher On How Front Office Motivated Team In 2018
Every World Series team needs something to get them across the finish line.
When it came to the 2018 World Series Red Sox team, they wanted the players to feel motivated before they made any moves for the second half.
“I’m not even joking, (ownership) literally sprawled out their rings,” former Red Sox ace Chris Sale told Baseball Isn’t Boring’s Rob Bradford. “They were like ‘You see these? We want more of these. If you give us an opportunity, we’ll make that happen, but it’s on you.’ Basically, they put it on the players. If you guys give us a good first half, we’ll do what we need to do to facilitate winning a World Series.”
That’s exactly what the Boston front office did during the 2018 season. The Red Sox went 68-30 in the first half of the season, which kept them at the top of the American League standings.
With a strong first half, the Red Sox made multiple trades, including trading for Steve Pearce from the Toronto Blue Jays. Pearce was the eventual World Series MVP after totaling three home runs and eight RBIs during Boston’s series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Red Sox also got pitcher Nathan Eovaldi from the Tampa Bay Rays, who was a big pitcher for Boston throughout the postseason. The team also acquired infielder Ian Kinsler from the Los Angeles Angels.
“With our front office seeing some of the things they saw, and just saying, ‘Hey, they could use this and they could use that,'” Sale said. “That was one of the first things when I got to the Red Sox was that when I got to the Red Sox ownership said.”
With all the moves, Boston had a record-breaking 108 wins and beat the Dodgers in five games to win the World Series.