The 2018 Boston Red Sox capped off a 119 win season after clinching the World Series Sunday night. 108 of those wins came in the regular season and now begs the question of where the 2018 Sox stand among the greatest teams ever. The answer to that question is actually pretty simple. There’s no question that the 2018 Boston Red Sox are the best baseball team of all time.
Anything before 1980 can automatically get thrown out. Don’t even try to argue it. Humans evolve over time. They become bigger, stronger, faster over time. It’s called biology. Google it. That doesn’t change. Plug Babe Ruth in 2018 and he doesn’t make it out of AA. Plug Nolan Ryan in 2018 and he’s lucky if he’s anything more than a Joe Kelly. The guy had one pitch. It’s not arguable. The perfect comparison is Ronda Rousey. When the sport was brand new she dominated. The weight class evolved and Rousey all of the sudden turned into the worst fighter in the division. Plug in peak Rousey in the UFC 5 years from now and she would be released from the roster after one fight.
You can also throw out anything prior to Moneyball in 2003. We have become smarter. Analytics matter. The amount of information that these players now have is unmatched. No other sport even compares to the information that baseball has. JD Martinez turned himself into an MVP candidate after being released 5 years ago. That doesn’t happen 20 years ago. He studied the game and embraced things like launch angle. It’s not hard to figure out what’s happening in baseball and a lot of teams are way out in front of the curve. Where did Steve Pearce come from? Since when is Max Muncy this good? How did Justin Verlander suddenly reverse his aging curve after being dealt to the Astros? A lot of these teams are way out in front when it comes to the information and would smoke teams of the past that didn’t have it.
Some will try to argue the 1998 Yankees. They were dominant in their era. No question. The only problem with that is you don’t know how many of these guys would have been popped for steroids in the modern era. The testing for performance-enhancing drugs has caught up or at least tried to catch up. Those guys from the steroid era may not have made it in today’s age of baseball and we will never know half of the guys who did it and never got caught. That Yankees team also lost two games in the ALCS to an Indians team that won 89 games.
The 2018 Red Sox are Money Ball on steroids with a manager that is the best the sport has ever seen. Without being in the clubhouse, I can’t put into words everything that Alex Cora has done but the postseason has shown that he has pushed all the right buttons. He gave guys plenty of rest all year. Hell, Mookie Betts sat the 2nd home game of the year because of rest. This team virtually rested the entire month of September because the division was already wrapped up. Greatness is rare and the Red Sox are truly a great team that baseball hasn’t seen in a very long time. How many champs can also claim that they had the best record in spring training as well? It all starts there.
We are truly in a super team era in baseball. What’s more impressive is that the Red Sox dusted all of them. A 100 win Yankee team was embarrassed and turned into a joke. The reigning champs who won 103 games this year were dominated. That Astros team is loaded and the series wasn’t competitive. The Dodgers have won back to back pennants and took Houston 7 last year. This year they were bullied. It took them 18 innings to just beat this Red Sox juggernaut one time. The 2018 Red Sox are a once and a lifetime team. 11-3 in the postseason knocking off 3 super teams with ease is as good as it gets.
This Red Sox team is loaded. They will end up with the 1st and 2nd place MVP’s (Mookie Betts and JD Martinez). They have Chris Sale who easily would have won the Cy Young if he pitched enough but was rested for the postseason. They have David Price and Rick Porcello. Both guys have also won the Cy Young. They have a top 5 shortstop in Xander Bogaerts. A scary closer in Craig Kimbrel. A playoff hero in Nathan Eovaldi. There were no holes. I could go on forever. The 2018 Boston Red Sox are the greatest team ever.
