Red Sox Memories: The best individual seasons by players since 2000
Since the turn of the century, the Boston Red Sox have gone from lovable losers to annual contenders. In that span, we’ve seen some great individual seasons.
Us Boston Red Sox fans have been spoiled in recent years. Ever since the 2004 team broke the Curse of the Bambino, the Sox have been contending for World Series titles more often than not. Over that time, we have had the privilege of seeing some fantastic talent put up gaudy numbers in Boston.
There have been some stellar individual seasons to look back on from players like David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Mookie Betts, and many more. While it hasn’t all been great, this truly has been one of the more impressive runs of success by an MLB franchise and Red Sox fans are incredibly fortunate to have witnessed this era.
Seeing as the 2020 Red Sox are not on the field as of yet, it wouldn’t hurt to reflect on some of those players and what their best year was. There will be some glaring omissions, but in lists like these there always are.
It certainly isn’t easy to spotlight just a few players when there are so many occasions where recognition is warranted. However, it’s hard to argue that these performances stood out from the rest.
Pedro Martinez, 2000
Generally, the popular answer is 1999 when debating what Pedro Martinez‘s best single-season numbers were as a member of the Red Sox. It’s a fair conclusion, given the fact that the 1999 Red Sox were a strong team as a whole that made it to the ALCS with Martinez as their best player.
With that said, the argument could easily be made Martinez actually performed better in 2000 than he did in 1999. While the 2000 team was generally middling and forgettable, Martinez was absolutely dominant. His ERA of 1.74, H9 of 5.3, WHIP of 0.737(!!!) and SO/W ratio of 8.88 were career bests.
The only metrics where Pedro’s 1999 season is definitively better than his 2000 season are strikeouts and win-loss record, but the general consensus nowadays is that wins are more of a team stat anyways. While his SO9 of 13.2 in 1999 is insane, a bit of a dip to 11.8 in 2000 is nothing to sneeze at.
Martinez was awarded his second consecutive Cy Young award in 2000, which gave him three overall. It is a shame that the rest of the team couldn’t match their results from the season prior. If they did, the curse could have been broken four years earlier given how well Martinez pitched.
Mookie Betts, 2018
It might still sting a bit, but it’s hard not to look back fondly on Mookie Betts‘ 2018 campaign. The 2018 season as a whole was a joyride for Red Sox Nation as the team won 108 games in the regular season and dominated the postseason as well en route to their fourth World Series championship of the 21st century.
Betts was one of many stars on that team, but he shined just a bit brighter than everyone else thanks to a line of .346/.438/.640 with 32 home runs, 80 RBI, and 30 stolen bases. Betts took home the AL MVP, Golden Glove, and Silver Slugger honors.
It was a truly remarkable effort by Betts and it’s one of the main factors that contributed to that team is as good as it was. While Betts would go on to struggle in the postseason, it hardly mattered. His teammates were able to pick up some of the slack, just as he did for them on more than one occasion during the regular season.
Mookie may no longer be on the Red Sox, but the memories he provided to the franchise especially in 2018 will not soon be forgotten. Filling the void of his absence will be incredibly difficult.
David Ortiz, 2006
2006 was another mediocre year by the Red Sox as a whole, but as usual David Ortiz made sure that everyone tuned in regardless. Big Papi absolutely mashed in ’06, putting up a line of .281/.413/.636 with a whopping 54 home runs (career-high) and 137 RBI. Ortiz also had a career-high in walks with 119.
Ortiz was third in AL MVP voting and won a Silver Slugger award for his efforts. One could make the argument that he should have been ahead of both Derek Jeter and Justin Morneau and won the MVP outright, but the lack of success by the team as a whole hurt his chances as he didn’t receive any first-place votes.
Despite a lack of recognition, Papi gave fans a reason to watch every night even with the Red Sox not meeting expectations during the season and ultimately missing the playoffs. It can be hard to sit through 162 games when there’s no postseason appearance to pay it off, but Ortiz made it a bit easier by being so entertaining to watch at the plate.
Ortiz has had more memorable moments in his career than his accomplishments in the 2006 season, but for pitchers around the majors that year he might have been at his most terrifying. When he wasn’t getting pitched around, he was hitting a ball over the fence. You could pretty much apply that statement to his entire career and it would still be accurate.
Manny Ramirez, 2004
Manny Ramirez‘s 2004 numbers don’t jump off the stat sheet when looking at the course of his entire career. He was great, yes, but during the regular season that was just Manny being Manny. He hit .308/.397/.613 with 43 home runs and 130 RBI, which is what we would call a routine season for him in his prime.
The thing that makes 2004 special for Manny is what made it special for that entire Red Sox team; they won 98 games in the regular season and won the World Series for the first time in 86 years, coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS against the New York Yankees in the process.
It wasn’t until the playoffs started that we began to truly see something special. In 14 playoff games, Ramirez hit .350 with two home runs and 11 RBI. Most importantly, he hit .412 in the World Series and was awarded the World Series MVP for his efforts. Ramirez’s contribution to ending the 86-year championship drought for the Red Sox was his best achievement in a career filled with them.
Ramirez might have been a headache on occasion, but any sane Red Sox fan doesn’t care about that thanks to what he did for the organization, especially in 2004. Manny was one of the players who helped the franchise turn a corner and become perennial World Series contenders.
David Ortiz, 2004
Naturally, the most important player in Red Sox history gets two seasons to spotlight. Much like Manny Ramirez, it was business as usual for David Ortiz in the 2004 regular season. In just his second season with the Red Sox, he slashed .301/.380/.603 with 41 home runs and 139 RBI.
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Once again, the magic happened in the postseason. Ortiz forever endeared himself to Red Sox Nation by performing at his best when it mattered the most and helping the Red Sox win the World Series and break the “curse.”
Manny Ramirez doesn’t win World Series MVP in 2004 without Big Papi’s heroic ALCS performance. Down 0-3 to the Yankees, Ortiz walked off both games 4 and 5 en route to the Sox winning four straight and moving on to the World Series.
There are perhaps no swings of the bat more impactful than those in Red Sox history. As a whole, Ortiz hit .387 with three home runs and 11 RBI in the ALCS and was given MVP honors for that series. It is perhaps the most impressive performance by a Red Sox player in any postseason series given the high stakes.
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Ortiz established himself as a Boston icon in 2004 and continued to build on his legacy from there. We should consider ourselves extremely lucky to have been able to see it happen.