On a nippy October night at historic Fenway Park, the Los Angeles Dodgers, now back to back National League Champions, were getting ready to face off against the Red Sox Juggernaut plowed through two 100 win teams in the Houston Astros and their longtime rival New York Yankees, going a combined 7-2 in both series. One of those wins was a jaw-dropping 16-1 rout in game 3 of the Yankee series in the Bronx.

The Dodgers were able to defeat a simply inferior Atlanta Braves team in the first round best of five, needing only four games to do it. Then came the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers. A long, dramatic, and exciting 7 game marathon was gifted to us by the baseball gods.

This included the Dodgers late 4-3 comeback win in Game 2 on the road to even the series at one game apiece before heading back to LA. Another dramatic 2-1, 13 inning win in Game 4 thanks to Cody Bellinger’s clutch RBI single, which knotted the series at two. The Dodgers found a way to win 2 of the next 3 games against a star-studded Brewers team, punching their ticket to Boston.

With a game-time temperature of 54 degrees at 8:00 PM on October 23rd, Game 1 of the world series had begun. Featuring two aces in Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale – both with a history of postseason underperformance.

Unfortunately for them, it was a trend that would continue.

The Red Sox jumped all over Kershaw early. With 4 singles in the first, the Red Sox had scored two runs in the first. The Dodgers fired right back in the top half of the 2nd with a Moon Shot from Matt Kemp, easily topping the monster in the deep left center. This back and forth affair would continue into the seventh.

With runners on first and second, and two gone in the home half of the 7th, Cora elected to pinch hit Eduardo Nunez for Devers to get the righty-lefty matchup, as well as the better defense Nunez has to offer with his team currently holding a five-four lead in this nail-biter of a game 1.

Yes, my friends, this game was a close one. It was until Nunez took a 1-0 slider buried in the dirt off reliever Alex Wood over the monster in left.

Giving the Sox some much-needed insurance, the Fenway Faithful erupted. They erupted as they did when Big Papi heroically took Tigers’ Closer Joaquin Benoit deep in the 2013 ALCS for a game-tying grand slam in the eighth inning of game 2. They erupted as they did when Carlton Fisk waved his walk off home run fair in the 13th inning of game 6 of the 1976 world series, forcing a seventh game against the Reds.

The Red Sox held on to that 8-4 lead, taking the first game of the series at home. With game two at their yard the next day.

With home field advantage on the line for both teams in Game 2, the two squads faced off in the bitter New England cold.

David Price, Boston’s hottest pitcher, who himself got out of a 10 game postseason losing streak with a convincing start in the clincher of the ALCS in Houston, was set to start and against the Dodgers Hyun Jin Ryu. Price had found a way to turn back the clock ten years throwing 6 strong with only a run. Ryu struggled, and the red sox got into the bullpen in the fifth, winning game 2, 4-2, taking a 2-0 series lead to LA.

Game 3 of the series was a must win for LA. Joc Pederson took Rick Porcello deep in the third, and the Dodgers held a 1-0 lead into the eighth. The Dodgers put Kenley Jansen, a very reliable closer who was having a below average Jansen year, threw a cutter right down the heart of the plate to Jackie Bradley Jr, and he did not miss it. The moonshot delivered the tying tally for the Red Sox, sending this huge game into extras.

This competition went on to become the longest in World Series History. With a score even at 2, Max Muncy took a hanging Nathan Eovaldi curveball deep into the night, winning it for the Dodgers, and allowing them to cut into their world series deficit.

Game 4 was the real test for the Dodgers. Anything less than a win was unacceptable, considering the odds of them coming back from a 3-1 series deficit from an obviously superior opponent. After 6 scoreless innings, the Dodgers erupted. Yasiel Puig hit a 3 run bomb a long way out to left to give the Dodgers a comfortable 4-0 lead. It looked like the Dodgers were going to even the series, until the Red Sox roared back, scoring 9 runs over the final 3 innings to game 4, turning what could have been a 7 game marathon into a foregone conclusion.

Game 5 featured the same atmosphere in Dodger stadium that had dominated it after the bitter loss of game 4. A sense of hopelessness swept across the crowd as Steve Pearce smacked a two-run dong over the fence in left center off Dodger ace, Clayton Kershaw.

The Red Sox tacked on a few more for good Measure in the later innings, capping off a 108 win regular season with the 2018 World Series Championship.