Will Middlebrooks Reflects On What Made 2013 Red Sox Season Different

When Will Middlebrooks arrived to spring training in 2013 ahead of his second season with the Boston Red Sox, the team had undergone a complete transformation.

He had plenty of new teammates to meet with the Red Sox making it a priority that offseason to sign high-character veterans. David Ross, Jonny Gomes, Shane Victorino, Mike Napoli, Stephen Drew, Ryan Dempster and Koji Uehara were all added to Boston's nucleus.

It was a unique collection of talent, one that clearly worked well when mixed together as the Red Sox went on to win the World Series in 2013. But it was the strong veteran presence, especially emanating from the new additions, that made that iteration of the Red Sox different from Middlebrooks' perspective.

"I think just the group of vets we had. It was basically a whole team of vets, honestly," Middlebrooks told NESN.com. "But the guys that were there that were brought in -- Jonny Gomes, Mike Napoli -- just the way they meshed with the guys that were already there with Papi (David Ortiz), (Dustin) Pedroia, (Jacoby) Ellsbury, (Jarrod Saltalamacchia). It just ended up being the perfect storm. It was the perfect combination of personalities that worked well together, we all had the same goal and it started early."

Even as Middlebrooks and the rest of his teammates got acquainted with the newcomers, they quickly formed a strong connection -- even beginning to grow out their beards to manifest a playoff run -- that built the foundation of the Red Sox that season.

"Analytics would have never put that team together. Ever."

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Former Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks

Middlebrooks believes that was made possible due to not only the outgoing personalities of the players the Red Sox brought in, but because those same players put winning above all else at that point in their careers.

And it was apparent to Middlebrooks, and some of his teammates, that something special was brewing even before the regular season started.

"One hundred percent in spring training. By the end of spring training everyone was like, 'Ok, we got something good,'" Middlebrooks said. "And that's rare because normally you don't. Most of your guys aren't playing together the whole time. ... I'd say by the end of spring training we had a really good feel for who we were as a team.

"Hearing the vets talk about already at that point what we had was rare. Guys hung out off the field, they hung out at the field. Guys were getting there early and getting their work in together. It was a really clear group goal just from day one. It sounds fake, but it's not."

The tight-knit chemistry of the group propelled the Red Sox, including in the first month of the season when they posted an 18-8 record in April. The veteran presence brought the best out of Middlebrooks, too. Just 24 at the time, the third baseman notched a career-high 17 homers, including blasting three in one game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

By banding together, the Red Sox kept their momentum up in the regular season and throughout the playoffs, which included several memorable moments as they dispatched the Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals to claim the World Series title.

And looking back on that run and that team a decade later, Middlebrooks appreciates how one-of-a-kind it was and how it's near impossible to assemble a team like that again.

"Analytics would have never put that team together. Ever," Middlebrooks said. "You just look at the back of some of those guys baseball cards, they weren't necessarily like great players but they were big-time players if that makes sense. They performed under pressure. They performed in big moments. I keep going back to Jonny Gomes and Mike Napoli, those guys were around for a long time and it seems like they always won wherever they were because they weren't scared of the big moments. And that rubs off on everybody around you."