We're done, right? So how does the 2019 “hangover season” stack up with other hangover seasons?
2014: Sox went 71-91, last place, 25 games back. It’s okay if you erased the 2014 squad from your memory – the Carp-Nava-Sizemore outfield did not remind anyone of Rice-Lynn-Evans. By late July the team was well and truly dismantled, with Jake “Why Did He Sign Here?” Peavey, Felix Doubront, John Lester, John Lackey, Steven Drew, and Johnny Gomes all traded at the deadline. We did get Runsey Castillo that year, so OF help was on the way.
2008: A mild headache of a hangover. The ‘08ers posted a 95-67 record, just one game off the 96-66 of the 2007 championship season. Losing to the Devil Rays (?!?!?!) in the ALCS was a matter of running into peak Matt Garza. Even Alex Cora as a backup SS couldn’t save us.
2005: Talk about your “Boy, Wasn’t that a Great Party?” hangover. The Sox finished 95-67,* good for second place in the AL East. The starting nine were mostly familiar heroes, with only with Edgar Renteria stepping in to enrage the Pokey People. We let Pedro go and replaced him with….(checks notes)…David Wells. Went down meekly to the White Sox in a Division Series sweep. Theo quit. Geremi Gonzalez got three starts.
1919: At the time, nobody knew this was not just a hangover season, but the beginning of decades of disappointment. The boys went 66-71, finishing 6th in an eight-team league. Sad Sam Jones went 16-5 for the ’18 squad (ERA+ 120), but went 12-20 in 1919 (ERA+ 81). Babe Ruth led the AL in runs, HR, RBI, etc. etc. (OPS 1.114!) but wanted to get paid. You know what happened next.
1917: This was a double hangover year, since the Sox won it all in both 1915 and 1916. The 1917 squad kept the great pitching of the 1916 champs (led the AL in CG and shutouts) but hits were hard to come by, and they ended up in 2nd place, going 90-62. Ruth was a full-time pitcher (only 52 AB) and the team was middle-of-the-pack in most offensive categories. I think if they’d started Ruth in the outfield instead of Tillie “Prohibition Jackie Bradley Jr.” Walker, the Red Sox win another pennant.
1913: Looks like 1913 was the 2019 of the twentieth century, Sox hangover-wise. The 1912 team rivals the 2018 team for best Red Sox team evah. But the champs, who went 105-47 in 1912, slumped to a feckless 79-71 the next year. I wasn’t there, so let’s let Red Sox Century pick it up:
1904: The 1903 champs gave the Dropkick Murphys the “Stahl, Dinneen, and Young” line from “Tessie.” The 1904 squad kept all three players, and continued to kick ass, going 95-59 and winning the AL pennant. The cowardly New York Giants refused to play the World Series, because they were a miserable team based in New York, run by assholes, stocked with overrated players, and supported by obnoxious fans. Look up a picture of Giants owner John T. Brush. He’s Montgomery Burns.
Edit: Corrected 2005 record -- thanks Salem's Lot
2014: Sox went 71-91, last place, 25 games back. It’s okay if you erased the 2014 squad from your memory – the Carp-Nava-Sizemore outfield did not remind anyone of Rice-Lynn-Evans. By late July the team was well and truly dismantled, with Jake “Why Did He Sign Here?” Peavey, Felix Doubront, John Lester, John Lackey, Steven Drew, and Johnny Gomes all traded at the deadline. We did get Runsey Castillo that year, so OF help was on the way.
2008: A mild headache of a hangover. The ‘08ers posted a 95-67 record, just one game off the 96-66 of the 2007 championship season. Losing to the Devil Rays (?!?!?!) in the ALCS was a matter of running into peak Matt Garza. Even Alex Cora as a backup SS couldn’t save us.
2005: Talk about your “Boy, Wasn’t that a Great Party?” hangover. The Sox finished 95-67,* good for second place in the AL East. The starting nine were mostly familiar heroes, with only with Edgar Renteria stepping in to enrage the Pokey People. We let Pedro go and replaced him with….(checks notes)…David Wells. Went down meekly to the White Sox in a Division Series sweep. Theo quit. Geremi Gonzalez got three starts.
1919: At the time, nobody knew this was not just a hangover season, but the beginning of decades of disappointment. The boys went 66-71, finishing 6th in an eight-team league. Sad Sam Jones went 16-5 for the ’18 squad (ERA+ 120), but went 12-20 in 1919 (ERA+ 81). Babe Ruth led the AL in runs, HR, RBI, etc. etc. (OPS 1.114!) but wanted to get paid. You know what happened next.
1917: This was a double hangover year, since the Sox won it all in both 1915 and 1916. The 1917 squad kept the great pitching of the 1916 champs (led the AL in CG and shutouts) but hits were hard to come by, and they ended up in 2nd place, going 90-62. Ruth was a full-time pitcher (only 52 AB) and the team was middle-of-the-pack in most offensive categories. I think if they’d started Ruth in the outfield instead of Tillie “Prohibition Jackie Bradley Jr.” Walker, the Red Sox win another pennant.
1913: Looks like 1913 was the 2019 of the twentieth century, Sox hangover-wise. The 1912 team rivals the 2018 team for best Red Sox team evah. But the champs, who went 105-47 in 1912, slumped to a feckless 79-71 the next year. I wasn’t there, so let’s let Red Sox Century pick it up:
Wood (“Progressive Era Pedro”) struggled with injuries and the team was apparently out of shape from the offseason banquet circuit. Also they hated each other. Kind of a Chicken-and-Beer situation with Hugh Bedient as Josh Beckett.The Red Sox began the season with one of the biggest payrolls in baseball and opening day provided a look into what the season was going to become. Joe Wood received the honor of pitching the first game of the season, on April 10th, and struck out six in the first four innings. He then faltered, giving up five runs in seven innings in a 10-9 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics, at a chilly Fenway Park.
1904: The 1903 champs gave the Dropkick Murphys the “Stahl, Dinneen, and Young” line from “Tessie.” The 1904 squad kept all three players, and continued to kick ass, going 95-59 and winning the AL pennant. The cowardly New York Giants refused to play the World Series, because they were a miserable team based in New York, run by assholes, stocked with overrated players, and supported by obnoxious fans. Look up a picture of Giants owner John T. Brush. He’s Montgomery Burns.
Edit: Corrected 2005 record -- thanks Salem's Lot
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