Best 2018 Red Sox postseason moments

LesterFan

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How about a thread to compile some of the best moments of this incredible run. Videos, gifs, etc. I'll start it simple with the final out.

 

Tokyo Sox

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A small moment I really enjoyed was how big and lasting a smile Pedroia greeted Price with when Price exited the game.
 

BigSoxFan

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How about a thread to compile some of the best moments of this incredible run. Videos, gifs, etc. I'll start it simple with the final out.

Really glad Sale got his postseason moment. Was weird seeing him not really be a factor but he was clearly dealing with physical ailments. And the look on his face before the pitch was priceless.
 

Beomoose

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Exiled
Holt's Cycle
Pearce's "Holy Shit, what did I Do?" face in G4
Price wanting to pitch in EVERY game and being GREAT when he did
 

bosockboy

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Beni’s catch
Pearce’s homer/gapper
Nunez to Pearce MFY final out
Moreland’s dinger
Holt’s cycle
Devers homer off Verlander
Jackie’s granny
Nunez’ pinch hit homer

Those are my biggies.
 

santadevil

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Nathan Eovaldi with the guttsiest pitching performance of the Postseason. Dude killed himself in Game 3, throwing more pitches than any WS starter this year, after pitching in Games 1 and 2. Some of the best I've ever seen.

Steave Pearce with the pick to end the ALDS. Guy played great defense all through the Postseason. I thought he broke his neck in Houston

Mookie's gun to nab Kemp, killing a potential rally before it could start. Huge moment shifter

Beni's outfield defense, over and over and over

JBJ's 2 out hitting

Devers being clutch and just hitting singles, chance after chance. And for nabbing Machado yesterday on a very nice play

David Price turing into David Price, playoff stud. The talent has always been there, but making a mid-Postseason adjustment and asking for the ball, game after game. They don't win without this guy

Chris Fucking Sale, with the rally cry and for making Machado look stupid to seal the Championship

The rest of the relief pitching, they were nails and I was never nervous with them, no matter who came in

Nunez game 3, killing himself to tru and get this team another win. Huge respect

Leon and Vas's catching. Those guys were absolute brick walls behind the plate. We saw catching issues with other teams over and over. The Sox didn't have those issues

Vas's AB's. He had a couple that were huge. HR against the Yanks, 2 out, 0-2 count to start the rally in Game 2 against Ryu

Madson allowing each inherited runner to score
 
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chawson

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1. Mookie’s fan interference catch in ALCS Game 4, the best baseball game I have ever seen
2. Eovaldi’s six extra innings
3. Price dominating the Astros in Game 5 when everyone had already closed the book on him (and then doing it again twice for good measure)
4. Nunez’s pinch hit 3-run liner off Wood’s slider at his shoelaces
5. Bradley’s grand slam off Osuna in Game 3
6. Beni’s catch
7. Vazquez’s toilet shot
8. Nunez’s catch into the stands
9. Brocky’s cycle
10. Cora nearly always making the right choice about who to play at 2B/3B
 
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JohntheBaptist

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There were so many, and it is a weird choice, but the first thing I will always think about when I think of this postseason is Eovaldi's 96 pitches in relief in Game Three. Not a "moment" I know, but that was utterly beyond words.

Nunez's play in New York and Benintendi's in Houston to end games are absolutely up there.

And underrated one for me is Mookie throwing out Kemp at second in Houston. The dominance of the OF defense overall, really. Pearce's HR to tie Game Four got me amped the hell up.

This will be a fun thread, poring over these details.
 
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BornToRun

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-Barnes freezing Tyler White on a curve in Game 4 of the ALCS
- Evo blowing away Bregman with 102 in Game 5
-Workman striking out Torres with a 3-2 breaking ball and the bases loaded in Game 1 against the MFY
-Sale coming on in the 8th of Game 4 against NY and getting a 1,2,3 inning
 

patinorange

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Sale getting a hero's send off in the Boston bullpen from his teammates. I don't think I have ever seen anything like that. If anyone could post that I would appreciate it. I would like to watch in a loop about a hundred times.
 

The Filthy One

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Brasier telling Gary Sanchez to get in the fucking box. Even though it came in a loss, it seemed like it typified the attitude of the whole team.
 

normstalls

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Brasier telling Gary Sanchez to get in the fucking box. Even though it came in a loss, it seemed like it typified the attitude of the whole team.
That and Eovaldi’s effort... two moments, both in rare post season losses, were huge, inspiring moments. I think the team was fired up by them too.
 

brandonchristensen

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Eovaldi’s “second start”. That was such a strange game and a strange game thread to boot. With half of the posters long gone, the contingency of leftovers got to watch something pretty unprecedented. All the while Nunez was doing an old Charlie Chaplin sketch and playing slapstick humor.

It was bizarre and it had an undeserved ending, but it was genuinely incredible to watch.

The 10D catch. Unbelievable.

The Tony Kemp/Mookie Betts take two. After two calls in the prior game, there was a sweet satisfaction to virtually the same plays happening again and Kemp not catching it, but Mookie does.

The Holt cycle. Pure fun.
 

pgeyer13

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That and Eovaldi’s effort... two moments, both in rare post season losses, were huge, inspiring moments. I think the team was fired up by them too.
This. And Price getting amped in the bullpen and kicking the wall.

The mental image of guys crowding the door of the manager's office announcing they were good to go tomorrow...
I love this team.
 

garlan5

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this guy live streamed the game and posted to youtube if you would like a in stadium watch of key moments. He zoomed in on Sale coming out of the pen.
 

streeter88

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Machado strikes out twice, to end the first inning, and then to end the WS. He really gave the ump a mouthful in the first inning, looked like he narrowly avoided getting thrown out.

Also really enjoyed the great human moments: the bear hug that Holt gave JD after his HR, Price so emphatic coming off the mound at the end of the 7th, the great gesture Pearce gave the dugout after his second HR as if to say to Price "Top that for MVP!" etc.

Must have been a very fun night for the Sox in LA. So devoid of last night's tension, almost looked preordained.
 

gtmtnbiker

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Chris Fucking Sale, with the rally cry and for making Machado look stupid to seal the Championship
This was my favorite moment.

Sale getting a hero's send off in the Boston bullpen from his teammates. I don't think I have ever seen anything like that. If anyone could post that I would appreciate it. I would like to watch in a loop about a hundred times.
This was also really good.

I also never ever tire of Mookie greeting the guy who just hit a HR and takes his helmet off. Mookie has such a great smile and is genuinely happy.

I was also impressed with Dever's fielding performance in the World Series. It seems that he spent extra time working on his game or something. He threw the ball very well.
 

tbrown_01923

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Every Joe Kelly appearance
I really enjoyed watching joe kelly - he was locked in and pitching. I felt he had a danger to him - perhaps irrational but his performance was as compelling to me as was that of Nathan and the rest of the starters humping as the relief corps. That said DAVID PRICE. Desperate for the ball, the moment and the team - all heart.
 

mikeford

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Joe Kelly's final appearance and screaming FUCK YEAH as he walked off the mound

That guy had a rough season but my god did he sack up in October.
 

Fisks Of Fury

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Sale getting a hero's send off in the Boston bullpen from his teammates. I don't think I have ever seen anything like that. If anyone could post that I would appreciate it. I would like to watch in a loop about a hundred times.
Seconded. Went looking for it this morning, but couldn't find it.
 

Zupcic Fan

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I of course love all thes moments. But the two that stand out most for me are the play made by Nunez and Pearce to end the Yankee series and the play made by Devers against Machado in the 9th of game 4 of the World Series. Why? Because in each of those cases I was a nervous wreck watching Kimbral struggling so badly, and I still am not sure how those games end up if the plays weren’t made. I suppose I should be used to it and avoid the game threads, which I hate, but I was really annoyed by all the snide shit jokes made about Núñez in there because of his error in the Houston game. I’ll love him forever after a season of constantly being annoyed by him simply because of that game saving play when Kimbral was imploding.
 

Lowrielicious

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Joe Kelly's final appearance and screaming FUCK YEAH as he walked off the mound

That guy had a rough season but my god did he sack up in October.
There was a great moment where Price met Kelly on the top step after that K too. Haven’t found it on replay anywhere yet.
 

section15

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Machado strikes out twice, to end the first inning, and then to end the WS. He really gave the ump a mouthful in the first inning, looked like he narrowly avoided getting thrown out.
He could get away with more, he was "protected". When you're a designated "star" you can get away with it.

I'd have to say Pearce's gapper in game 4. The Dodgers had a momentum shift in the 18 inning game, I was fearful that they had the advantage - but the pendulum definitely swung back to the Sox with that one, there was no looking back after that.

My favorite World Series moment was personal - I fell down at Wellington Station, suffered what could have been a broken nose - bloodied, cleaned up, bandaged up, rebandaged at Fenway Park, and got through the second game of the World Series, still in some pain but we survived - and also - everyone in our section said goodbye for the off-season, and also to our ushers, we knew they were going to win it out there and there would be no 6th or 7th. Not unhappy about that. We preferred they win it out there to a 6th game here.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Joe Kelly's final appearance and screaming FUCK YEAH as he walked off the mound

That guy had a rough season but my god did he sack up in October.
Six innings in the World Series. More than Porcello or Sale. Every pitch high leverage. Zero walks.

He just shut the door.
 

Remagellan

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Rafael Devers, Game 4 World Series

Singles in go ahead run with one out.

Takes off on Swihart’s grounder, turning a potential inning ending DP ball into a 4-3 groundout, extending the inning. Then they walk Betts, Beni gets the infield single, MVPearce clears the bases and later comes around on X’s single, none of which happens if Devers doesn’t hustle to second.

Then in the bottom of the ninth, he makes an all-world play to retire Machado for a crucial second out to quell a potential Dodger comeback.

Just sterling work all around by a young man known mainly for his bat.
 

santadevil

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Sale getting a hero's send off in the Boston bullpen from his teammates. I don't think I have ever seen anything like that. If anyone could post that I would appreciate it. I would like to watch in a loop about a hundred times.
this guy live streamed the game and posted to youtube if you would like a in stadium watch of key moments. He zoomed in on Sale coming out of the pen.
Seconded. Went looking for it this morning, but couldn't find it.
Look at Garlan's post with the guy that live streamed. Right around 3:06 mark is when Sale came in. He got a decent shot of the bullpen
 

TSC

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Has anyone seen a picture of the three B's coming in from the outfield after the final out?

The video reminded me instantly of the famous Bergeron/Marchand/Seguin photo from Toronto in 2013.
 

gtmtnbiker

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I'd have to say Pearce's gapper in game 4. The Dodgers had a momentum shift in the 18 inning game, I was fearful that they had the advantage - but the pendulum definitely swung back to the Sox with that one, there was no looking back after that.
That was a beautiful hit. It's almost better than a grand slam. Clears the bases but you still have a guy on second putting pressure on the pitcher. A great trait of this year's team is how we have so many players who can run well and will take the extra base. It's something only a hardcore baseball fan can appreciate.
 

rymflaherty

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From a highlight perspective, Benintendi’s catches are the first thing that come to mind.

But there is another one that I’ve been making sure to remember, as it’s likley to be forgotten - Vaz’s 5th inning AB in Game 2.
Trailing 2-1 with Ryu seemingly unhittable it was Vaz of all people to have a great AB and come up with the single extending the inning...leading to the 4-2 lead by the end of the inning and control of the series.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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The Devers hit in game 4 was huge too.

Managing these late game tie games in a long series as the AL manager in the other team’s Park is really hard. It’s practically a completely different game. This is a rookie manager doing it with nothing more than a few NL inter league series under his belt, a couple of which were 2-game series and others that weren’t this tight.

Cora managed both games to go all in for the win. The first time it blew up because they just couldn’t get that third out, but sure enough the fucker did it again the very next night after one of the most devastating losses you can imagine.

He wasn’t completely sold out there but he had pushed a shitload of chips to the middle of the table to bet on the bottom of his order. That was a tough game to manage. Maybe almost impossible after the night before. All you can do is put them in position. And Devers paid it off big time.

Pearce’s double and the Hernandez home run off Kimbrel make it easy to forget what came before. But when Rafi came up he didn’t know about any of that. And without that hit we might have been looking at 14 innings or worse, losing in the bottom of the ninth. And I’m not sure they overcome that. That hit just seemed like it lifted a weight and got the Sox back to having the upper hand and erasing the night before. Moreland and Pearce did the heaviest lifting, but when Devers’ ball went through I think that was the point of no return for the Sox. I think the Championship was won right there. He didn’t have a great Series, like he did the ALCS, but I think that was one of the most important moments of the year and likely will be forgotten in years to come. So, I just wrote a long post about.

And of course the guy who got it started is Brock Holt. You could write another 1,000 words about that guy. “Tenth man” doesn’t do it near justice. He’s not a superstar but if you wanted to find the soul of this team — the thing that makes them so resilient and fun — it just might be Brock Fucking Holt.
 

Bleedred

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People have all the great stuff covered. What has struck me over the past week or so is how much this team seems to genuinely love playing baseball with and for each other. There's an authenticity and joy to their play and reactions, and while it sounds sappy, it's thrilling as a fan to be a part of it. I think Cora has a ton to do with it, as the guys to a man seem to revere him. Their joy is our joy, times 100.
 

TFisNEXT

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Here were my favorites leading up to the world series:


- Chris Sale's game 1 against MFY...wasn't 100% but gutted it to the 6th inning and got the win. It was his best start of the postseason but it was an important one.

- JDM's 3-run HR in first inning of game 1 vs MFY. Set the tone for the playoffs that the Red Sox wouldn't be intimidated by all the underlying talk that they couldn't survive the AL Gauntlet

- Eduardo Nunez's game-saving play to eliminate MFY in game 4. Who knows what happens if he doesn't make that play.

- Eovaldi's game 3 start at HOU. Clearly didn't have his best stuff, but gutted out 6 innings and left with a 3-2 lead...which led to this.....

- JBJ's Grand Slam to clinch game 3. Felt really huge at the time to go into Houston and grab the HFA right back.

- Tendi's catch to save game 4 in Houston. Kimbrel was in full meltdown mode and Benny said "no way, we aren't losing like this."

- Eovaldi blowing away Bregman on 102mph in the 8th inning of game 5 with a 4-1 lead. You felt that Houston was sensing it was over at this point.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
Haven’t seen a pic, but here’s the gif.
Man, I could just sit and watch that for hours. Beautiful.

People have all the great stuff covered. What has struck me over the past week or so is how much this team seems to genuinely love playing baseball with and for each other. There's an authenticity and joy to their play and reactions, and while it sounds sappy, it's thrilling as a fan to be a part of it. I think Cora has a ton to do with it, as the guys to a man seem to revere him. Their joy is our joy, times 100.
My mind still keeps going back to the Nunez quote in the postgame interview where he said something about Cora like "He made me feel better than what I am." That's a pretty good one-line definition of leadership.