A World Series win would place 2018 Red Sox among MLB's best teams ever

Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox celebrates during the team's Game 2 win. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

October 25 at 2:39 PM

The Red Sox took care of business at Fenway Park and head to Los Angeles with a 2-0 series lead over the Dodgers. That’s not surprising: Boston has won 24 of the 36 World Series games at home since 1901.

Perhaps even more impressive is the team’s plus-50 run differential in 16 total World Series games in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018. Over that time, the Red Sox have led or been tied at the end of 72 of 81 innings (89 percent) in World Series games at Fenway Park, according to MLB.com.

This playoff domination is just a continuation of the regular season, where Boston set the franchise record for most wins in a season (108) and became just the fourth Red Sox team to win 100 or more games in their 117-year history. That’s why a World Series win would put the 2018 Red Sox in the conversation as one of the most dominant MLB teams ever.

[It’s a Boston sports world and we’re all just living in it]

Since 1969, only 12 teams have recorded baseball’s best record and gone on to win a championship that same year. Just seven of those 12 won 108 or more games during the regular season: 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1927, 1961 and 1998 New York Yankees, 1970 Baltimore Orioles, 1975 Cincinnati Reds and 1986 New York Mets.

What is surprising is how Boston’s pitching, not hitting, is fueling the run.

The Red Sox lineup features Mookie Betts (one of the front-runners for AL MVP and only the second 30-30 player in franchise history) and J.D. Martinez (.330 average with 43 home runs and 130 RBI during his first season in Boston) yet their total wins above replacement from hitters during the regular season was only 27.3 in 2018, by far the lowest among the teams mentioned above.

Most wins above replacement by batters during regular season among teams that won 108 or more games plus a World Series championship in the same year.

Boston’s pitching, on the other hand, is the highest among this group of 108-game winners/World Series champs. Starter Chris Sale would have finished the regular season with the highest single-season strikeout rate (38.4 percent) by a starting pitcher in MLB history if he qualified for the ERA title — he fell four innings short. Rick Porcello and David Price joined Sale to help create the fifth-best starting rotation in the majors this season and closer Craig Kimbrel anchored the ninth-best bullpen. Overall Boston’s pitchers accounted for 29.4 wins above replacement six more than the 1909 Pirates, who were second among this elite group.

Most wins above replacement by pitchers during regular season among teams that won 108 or more games plus a World Series championship in the same year.

The ultimate ending to this year’s run by the Red Sox could be a sweep of the Dodgers, an outcome not outside the realm of possibility. Teams with a 2-0 series lead and home field advantage go on to win the series 82 percent of the time and based on the next two pitchers on the mound for Boston, Porcello and Nathan Eovaldi, the Red Sox have a 22-percent chance at winning the next two games, eliminating the Dodgers and taking one step closer to immortality.

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