Whatifsports Red Sox tournament

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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2004 vs. 2018 - Red Sox World Series

G5: 2018 Sox 6, 2004 Sox 2
Nathan Eovaldi pitched five scoreless innings, and Andrew Benintendi hit a grand slam to lead the 2018 squad to a 6-2 win over 2004 and take a 3 games to 2 lead in the best of seven championship series. With one out in the top of the fourth, 2004 starter Curt Schilling walked JD Martinez. After striking out Xander Bogaerts, he allowed a bloop double to Mitch Moreland that scored Martinez with the game's first run. In the bottom of the sixth, however, Trot Nixon ripped a solo homer off reliever Heath Hembree to knot the game at one. But 2018 exploded in the top of the seventh. With one out, Jackie Bradley singled and stole second. Eduardo Nunez singled him home, prompting 2004 manager Terry Francona to call on Curtis "by now he's nothing but a cyborg" Leskanic, who, perhaps due to a touch of overuse, promptly hit Christian Vazquez and then walked Mookie Betts to load the bases. Up stepped Benintendi, who crushed a deep rope to right for a grand slam, effectively ending the game. 2004 tried to rally in the eighth, scoring a run on a Mark Bellhorn single, but a 6-4-3 double play by Bill Mueller ended the rally.

WP - Kelly
LP - Schilling
SV - Kimbrel

https://www.whatifsports.com/x.asp?u=/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=12537826.ppid=.ppbp=0.ptf=

2018 leads the series 3 games to 2
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,393
2004 vs. 2018 - Red Sox World Series

G6: 2004 Sox 9, 2018 Sox 5 (13 inn)
The 2004 Sox staged an improbable and incredible comeback to beat the 2018 Sox 9-5 in 13 innings in game 6 of the championship series, knotting the championship at 3 games apiece. RBIs by Rafael Devers and JD Martinez gave the 2018 Sox a 2-0 lead in the first, and Mitch Moreland's 3-run bomb in the third increased the lead to 5-0 and put 2004 in a deep hole. 2018 starter David Price cruised through six shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits while striking out 7. But manager Dave Roberts elected to go to the bullpen in the eighth, calling on Heath Hembree, who struggled in game 5. Hembree's struggles continued, as with one out he allowed a solo homer to Manny Ramirez, a double by David Ortiz, a walk to Kevin Millar, and then - still in the game amazingly - a three-run blast to Trot Nixon. With the score now 5-4, 2018 called on Craig Kimbrel to close out the game and the series. But he walked Johnny Damon to lead off the inning. Kimbrel recovered to get Orlando Cabrera to pop up, and then struck out Manny Ramirez. The game - and series - was down to one out. But David Ortiz hit a ground-rule double to right - keeping the inning alive but also keeping Damon from scoring the tying run. No matter, as Millar singled to score Damon; Ortiz was cut down at home on the play. The game extended all the way to the thirteenth inning, where the 2004 offense battered end-of-the-bullpen relievers Hector Velazquez and Steven Wright. Cabrera hit a 2-run triple and Ortiz ripped a 2-run homer to win the game for 2004.

WP - Williamson
LP - Velazquez

https://www.whatifsports.com/x.asp?u=/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=12537838.ppid=.ppbp=0.ptf=

The series is tied at 3 games apiece. The game 7 starters will be Pedro Martinez (2004) vs Chris Sale (2018).
 

jose melendez

Earl of Acie
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Oct 23, 2003
30,976
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2004 vs. 2018 - Red Sox World Series

G6: 2004 Sox 9, 2018 Sox 5 (13 inn)
The 2004 Sox staged an improbable and incredible comeback to beat the 2018 Sox 9-5 in 13 innings in game 6 of the championship series, knotting the championship at 3 games apiece. RBIs by Rafael Devers and JD Martinez gave the 2018 Sox a 2-0 lead in the first, and Mitch Moreland's 3-run bomb in the third increased the lead to 5-0 and put 2004 in a deep hole. 2018 starter David Price cruised through six shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits while striking out 7. But manager Dave Roberts elected to go to the bullpen in the eighth, calling on Heath Hembree, who struggled in game 5. Hembree's struggles continued, as with one out he allowed a solo homer to Manny Ramirez, a double by David Ortiz, a walk to Kevin Millar, and then - still in the game amazingly - a three-run blast to Trot Nixon. With the score now 5-4, 2018 called on Craig Kimbrel to close out the game and the series. But he walked Johnny Damon to lead off the inning. Kimbrel recovered to get Orlando Cabrera to pop up, and then struck out Manny Ramirez. The game - and series - was down to one out. But David Ortiz hit a ground-rule double to right - keeping the inning alive but also keeping Damon from scoring the tying run. No matter, as Millar singled to score Damon; Ortiz was cut down at home on the play. The game extended all the way to the thirteenth inning, where the 2004 offense battered end-of-the-bullpen relievers Hector Velazquez and Steven Wright. Cabrera hit a 2-run triple and Ortiz ripped a 2-run homer to win the game for 2004.

WP - Williamson
LP - Velazquez

https://www.whatifsports.com/x.asp?u=/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=12537838.ppid=.ppbp=0.ptf=

The series is tied at 3 games apiece. The game 7 starters will be Pedro Martinez (2004) vs Chris Sale (2018).
Jeez... a little advantafge for the 04ers eh?
 

Mugsy's Jock

Eli apologist
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Dec 28, 2000
15,069
UWS, NYC
Trot Nixon is having a fantastic series, best I can tell.

And “manager Dave Roberts”? Did I miss a joke, or was Cora ejected and they pulled Dave over from the 2004 squad?
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Jun 15, 2002
5,846
It makes sense given the rest of those teams, but my teenage self is a little bummed that true God Mode Pedro & Full Power Nomar were not involved in these playoffs.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,393
I was going to go back through the games and put together a complete box score, but apparently the older games don't exist anymore. Huge bummer.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,393
2004 vs. 2018 - Red Sox World Series

G7: 2018 Sox 4, 2004 Sox 3
In an absolute classic, the 2018 Sox beat the 2004 Sox 4-3 in 11 innings to win the Red Sox All Time World Series Championship, 4 games to 3. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third, when Mookie Betts doubled off 2004 starter Pedro Martinez, and Andrew Benintendi followed with an RBI double to give 2018 a 1-0 lead. But 2004 came right back in the top of the fourth, as Kevin Millar doubled off Chris Sale, and Jason Varitek doubled him home to even the score at one apiece. In the sixth inning, Varitek drove in two more runs, this time with a homer that brought in Trot Nixon, and suddenly 2004 had a 3-1 lead. It remained that way as 2004 starter Pedro Martinez shut 2018 down inning after inning.

The bottom of the eighth, however, saw 2018 rally. Rafael Devers singled to lead off the inning, but Martinez struck out JD Martinez. Xander Bogaerts walked, and 2004 manager Terry Francona had a decision to make. With Pedro's pitch count rising, he left his ace in, and Pedro responded by striking out Mitch Moreland. With Jackie Bradley due up, Francona decided to pull Pedro and bring in iron man reliever Curtis Leskanic (!!). Leskanic, who had worked approximately 14 days in a row, walked Bradley to load the bases. Eduardo Nunez followed with a single driving in Devers and Bogaerts to tie the game at 3 apiece. Nobody really threatened until the bottom of the eleventh, when Nunez doubled off Keith Foulke to lead off the inning. Christian Vazquez grounded out to first, advancing Nunez. Foulke then had to deal with Mookie Betts, who lined a single to right to score Nunez with the winning run, giving Betts a game, and series, walk off victory.

For 2004, Varitek had 4 hits and 3 rbi, and Pedro Martinez pitched 7.2 excellent innings, allowing 3 runs and striking out 9. For 2018, Betts had 5 hits, including 2 doubles, and the bullpen pitched 5 shutout innings, as relievers Heath Hembree, Joe Kelly, and Matt Barnes combined for 5 strikeouts.

Boston writer Dan Shaughnessey would be seen after the game scribbling, "The Curse of Curtis Leskanic" on his notepad.

WP - Barnes
LP - Foulke

https://www.whatifsports.com/x.asp?u=/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=12537881.ppid=.ppbp=0.ptf=

2018 wins the series, 4 games to 3
 

Attachments

simplicio

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Apr 11, 2012
4,766
Of everybody on the 2018 team, it's Nunez who's the hero? Hilarious.

This series has been great fun, thanks for writing them up!
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,393
Thanks - it was fun to do. I really wish I had kept the stats through this whole run because I want to add up the performance of Curtis Leskanic. I find this obsession by the WhatIf sim to be incredibly fascinating.
 

TapeAndPosts

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Jul 21, 2006
580
2004 manager Terry Francona had a decision to make. With Pedro's pitch count rising, he left his ace in,
OMG

Pedro responded by striking out Mitch Moreland
Whew!

Francona decided to pull Pedro and bring in iron man reliever Curtis Leskanic (!!). Leskanic, who had worked approximately 14 days in a row, walked Bradley to load the bases. Eduardo Nunez followed with a single driving in Devers and Bogaerts to tie the game at 3 apiece
Every single thing about this series has played out exactly as I imagined it would, except that in this corner of the multiverse, the most important person in the world somehow is Curt Leskanic!

Thanks for doing this man, it has been super entertaining.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,393
I think Betts was likely the MVP.

Don't have the stats from games 1-3 but from the recaps, he had a 2-run homer in game 3 and 3 hits in game 2. Then in games 4-7 he went 8-17 with 4 runs and 3 rbi. So likely he had a minimum of 12 hits, 5 runs, and 5 rbi. Minimum. Also, add in 5 walks (from just games 4-7), 3 doubles, and 2 homers.

That's a pretty good series.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,393
OMG



Whew!



Every single thing about this series has played out exactly as I imagined it would, except that in this corner of the multiverse, the most important person in the world somehow is Curt Leskanic!

Thanks for doing this man, it has been super entertaining.
Haha thanks it was fun. Curtis Leskanic. Man. Of all people the WhatIf sim could have chosen to be THE MAN, why him? I will never ever understand. But it's fascinating that Pedro started to wilt in the 8th inning, something we've, uh, seen before. And instead of sticking with him, the manager went to the bullpen. So ok, I can understand that. But to go to...Leskanic? LOLOLOL. Hilarious.