With the regular season getting closer and closer, there is more and more talk about the possibility that the 2019 Red Sox could be the first team to repeat as World Series winners in two consecutive years since the Yankees won their third in a row from 1998 to 2000.
Most Red Sox fans that I have talked to about the possibility fall into one of two categories.
There are those that firmly believe that Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, Chris Sale, Xander Bogaerts and the rest are poised for, if anything, to do just that and possibly exceed last year’s 108 wins. They will be quick to tell you that there is no reason to believe that many of them, individually, will have an even better year this year than last.
They expect that Sale will be healthy the whole season, Rafael Devers will reach his expected potential, that the loss of Craig Kimbrel will be more than made up for by either Nate Eovaldi or Ryan Brasier or a combination of those two — and that this is a team with all the horses needed to repeat.
The report this week that Yankee pitching ace Luis Severino is suffering from a sore right shoulder inflammation and could miss the start of the season makes them more confident.
On the other hand, there are those that are skeptical that the Red Sox could ever be as good as last year. They point to the loss of Kimbrel, Joe Kelly and Ian Kinsler; the questions surrounding the physical condition of Dustin Pedroia; and the fact that other teams, including the hated Yankees have acquired players while, for the most part, the Sox have been staying with their same team.
Since the Yankees repeated in 2000, there have been 12 different teams that have won the World Series in the next 18 years and, while some have won more than one in that period, no team has won in consecutive years.
The Red Sox are the only team to win it all four times in that period, with the San Francisco Giants winning three times and the St. Louis Cardinals twice. The Astros, Cubs, Royals, Yankees, Phillies, White Sox, Marlins, Angels and Diamondbacks have each one once.
Not only have none of the reigning World Champions not been able to repeat in that period, teams coming off a World Series win have generally not done well the following season. Going into this season, in the 17 years from 2001 to 2017, the previous year’s World Series winner had managed to come in first in their own division the next year, only four times.
Only one of those four had made it to the World Series the following year. The Phillies won in 2008 and lost to the Yankees in the 2009 World Series. The Diamondbacks, after beating the Yankees in 2001, were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. The Cubs after winning their first World Series in 108 years in 2016, lost in the League Championship Series, as did the Astros after their win in 2017.
Six of the previous 17 World Series winners were only able to finish second in their own Division the following year and five finished in third. One team, the 2012 Giants, finished a lowly fourth in their own Division the year after winning the World Series. Red Sox fans will take no encouragement from the fact that, in those 17 years, only one team has won a World Series and dropped to last in its Division the following year. That team was the 2013 Red Sox who went from a 97-65 record and an 11-5 record in the Playoffs, against the Rays, Tigers and Cardinals in 2013 to a 71-91 record and a last place finish a year later.
What does all this mean to the Red Sox fan that is either sure his team will repeat or the one that is skeptical about their ability to do so? Absolutely nothing!!
This team, like just about very team in baseball, has undergone a complete transformation from 2013 to today. Dustin Pedroia was the only regular on that team who is still with the team today. Jackie Bradley and Xander Bogaerts were young part time position players and Stephen Wright and Brandon Workman pitched in just four and 20 games each.
There is no reason to believe that a team made up mainly of young experienced ball players, with the offensive capability they showed last year and the pitching they have, will not do well. As far as the Eastern Division of the American League is concerned, the Yankees should be their only competition. They have as much offensive capability as the Sox but lack the starting pitching with Severino having problems, C.C. Sabathia aging and Masahiro Tanaka still battling elbow problems.
Defensively, they have the best outfield in baseball, with three potential gold glove winners. They are strong up the middle with Bogaerts at short and Pedroia at second — even if Pedroia is not healthy both Holt and Nunez have shown the ability to do the job there — and first base shared by Steve Pearce and Mitch Moreland. The catching team of Sandy Leon, Christian Vazquez and/or Blake Swihart are more than adequate.
Add in the designated hitter J. D. Martinez, who last year became the only player ever to win the Silver Slugger Award at two positions and you have the recipe for a repeat.
The biggest problem the Sox have at this point is what to do with their two young, 23 years old, minor league prospects, Michael Chavis and Bobby Dalbec. Both have been very impressive in spring training, but both are third basemen. Another year at Pawtucket will not hurt either of them and they would be available in case of injury. Both have been worked out at first base and could get a lot more experience at different infield positions there this year.
The Red Sox can’t hold this team together for much longer as free agency looms for so many. This is the year to make a run to be the first to repeat this century and this team has the ability and intensity to make that a reality.

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