For most franchises, finishing last in your division typically hints at a multiyear rebuild with hopes of contending years down the road. At the end of the 2012 season, the Red Sox sat in last place of the AL East with a 69-93 record, 26 games back of the Yankees.
Yet, a rebuild was not on their mind. With proven winners like David Ortiz, Jon Lester and Dustin Pedroia already on the roster, the Red Sox decided to add players rather than subtract, while also changing the manager. They fired one-year manager Bobby Valentine and replaced him with then-Toronto Blue Jays manager John Farrell. They then added pieces such as Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes, Ryan Dempster and David Ross.
With a roster filled with personality, the 2013 Red Sox embraced their role as an underdog story and set their sights on proving that they were better than what they showed in the 2011 late-season collapse and 2012 last-place finish.
The Red Sox rallied along with the rest of Boston after the Marathon bombing in April, carrying an entire city with them throughout the remainder of the season. In their first game back home after the bombings, David Ortiz famously stood in front of a sellout crowd at Fenway Park and proclaimed, “This is our f*****g city.”
The Red Sox rolled to 97 wins and a division title, then beat the Rays in the ALDS. In the ALCS, they knocked off the Tigers in a memorable six-game series that included Ortiz’s iconic game-tying grand slam in the bottom of the eighth. The Sox capped off their third championship in 10 years by beating the Cardinals in six games in the World Series.
