The 2018 Boston Red Sox officially are the winningest team in franchise history, and that’s cause for celebration.
But it’s also cause for raised expectations: This team should (at least) reach the World Series, and anything less would be a disappointment.
We know, it’s not exactly a hot take. The club with the best record in baseball — which the Red Sox clinched Monday night at Fenway Park — is the favorite to win it all. Duh. But a quick history lesson reveals how much of an anomaly Boston would be if it didn’t make the Fall Classic.
Let’s start with the best teams in Red Sox history. The Sox have finished with sole possession or a share of Major League Baseball’s best record six times. Here’s how those teams fared:
1903 Red Sox — won World Series
1912 Red Sox — won World Series
1915 Red Sox — won World Series
1946 Red Sox — lost World Series
2007 Red Sox — won World Series
2013 Red Sox — won World Series
Boston has never been bounced before the title round after securing the league’s best regular-season record and has failed to win it all just once.
Let’s expand the scope to the winningest MLB teams of all time. The Red Sox actually are just the 10th team ever to win 106 games or more. (It’s admittedly a smaller sample size; the MLB schedule didn’t officially expand to 162 games until 1969). Here’s how those previous nine clubs finished in October:
1906 Chicago Cubs (116 wins) — lost World Series
2001 Seattle Mariners (115 wins) — lost ALCS
1998 New York Yankees (114 wins) — won World Series
1954 Cleveland Indians (111 wins) — lost World Series
1909 Pittsburgh Pirates (110 wins) — won World Series
1927 Yankees (110 wins) — won World Series
1907 Cubs (107 wins) — won World Series
1931 Philadelphia Athletics (107 wins) — lost World Series
1939 Yankees (106 wins) — won World Series
Of the nine teams to ever win 106 games or more, only the 2001 Mariners fell short of the World Series, with five of those nine teams winning the championship.
Again: We’re not relaying anything groundbreaking. Really good teams with really good records usually continue that success in the postseason. Yet that hasn’t been the case lately for the Red Sox, who won 93 games and an American League East title in each of the last two seasons only to lose in the AL Division Series both times.
Based on history alone, Boston should be a virtual lock to at least win the AL pennant this time around. But if Alex Cora’s club falls short of that mark, it will join an ’01 Seattle team that’s a poster child for failed postseasons.
No pressure, right?
