The ultimate Boston Red Sox fantasy baseball team.
I’m an avid fantasy baseball player, participating in year-long and daily leagues in various formats for the better part of two decades. While the Boston Red Sox will always be my team, fantasy baseball provides a way to engage with rooting interest in games that don’t involve my hometown team.
The goal here is to create the best fantasy roster using players from Red Sox history. That doesn’t necessarily mean a list of the best in franchise history. Certain players rate better in terms of WAR and other advanced metrics but we’re only concerned with the standard 5X5 fantasy categories.
Hitters: Runs, Home Runs, RBI, Batting Average, Steals
Pitchers: Wins, Saves, ERA, WHIP, Strikeouts
The roster will be constructed with one player at each infield position, three outfielders, and two utility players (any hitter can fill a utility spot, it doesn’t necessarily need to be a DH). The pitching staff will be made up of five starting pitchers and two relievers.
We’re using single-season performances to justify a player’s spot on the roster so someone with a great peak season could beat out another player at the position who had a longer track record. However, a player can only appear once on our team. Teddy Ballgame has arguably the three best individual seasons by any hitter in franchise history but that doesn’t mean he gets to fill three spots in our virtual lineup.
With that in mind, here’s the ultimate fantasy lineup created from the storied history of the Red Sox.