Start date 1988 Local television WSBK-TV | ||
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The 1988 Boston Red Sox season was the 88th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished first in the American League East with a record of 89 wins and 73 losses, but were then swept by the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS.
Contents
Offseason
Notable Transactions
The Rough Beginning
The 1988 team seemed to start much better than their chaotic 1987 season as evidenced by their 14-6 record in April; however, the team went sour thereafter specially for Jim Rice as he moved from left field to designated hitter. Dwight Evans also had problems when he played first base; usually reliable Lee Smith had problems including when he gave up a game-winning home run against the Tigers on Opening Day. The Red Sox would have an 11-16 record in May.
The team would have a slightly better June with a 14-12 record, but lost Jeff Sellers when he was hit by a line drive in Cleveland and broke his hand. Wes Gardner was moved from the bullpen to become a starter, but the team and its fans were losing patience.
Morgan Magic
At the All-Star break the Red Sox were 43-42, 9 games behind the front running division champion Detroit Tigers. But management had seen enough, and fired John McNamara and hired 58-year-old Joe Morgan as their manager. On July 15, the Red Sox and Roger Clemens beat Bret Saberhagen's Kansas City Royals 3-1 to begin a 12-game winning streak and launched them to first place over the slumping Yankees and Tigers. The Red Sox would later set an American League record of 24 straight home victories. 60 days after Morgan became Red Sox manager they were 81-63 and 4.5 games ahead of first.
Staggering But Still Won The East
After a bad road trip to Toronto, the Sox came to Yankee Stadium up by 4, and won 2 out of 3 to just about clinch the A.L. East title. Unfortunately, the hitting slump the team had been in for a while reasserted itself, and the Sox lost 3 to Toronto in Boston, but they crushed the Indians on September 29 to clinch a tie for first. The Yanks and Milwaukee lost the next day, and the division title was Boston's. Their 2nd A.L. East title in 3 seasons.
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In
Awards and honors
All-Star Game
Farm system
AZL club affiliation shared with Seattle Mariners