Red Sox World Series: 5 players who carried team to a title

Nathan Eovaldi

Eovaldi emerged out of the bullpen in the World Series against the Dodgers and looked spectacular, tossing up triple digits on a regular basis.

He shut down the Yankees for seven innings of one-run baseball in the Division Series, then put up another impressive start against Houston in the ALCS, giving up two runs over six innings. He became Alex Cora‘s secret weapon in game 5 against the Astros when he came out of the pen for 1.1 innings. The first-year manager continued to use Eovaldi out of the bullpen in the Fall Classic, using him in back-to-back nights in games 1 and 2 in the eighth inning. He tossed scoreless innings both times, overpowering the Dodgers lineup with an electric fastball that he was spotting up on the corners.

Eovaldi then put up one of the gutsiest performances of the entire postseason in the record-breaking Game 3, which was the longest game in World Series history, lasting 18 innings. He tossed six innings, giving up just three hits while striking out five. The only run he gave up was a walk-off solo homer to Max Muncy in the bottom of the 18th when he hung an off-speed pitch up in the zone which Muncy smacked opposite field to give the Dodgers their only win of the World Series.

Eovaldi posted a team-best 1.61 ERA in the playoffs, striking out 16 hitters in 22 innings. Not bad for his first time pitching in October baseball.