For the eighth time in team history and the third time in the past ten seasons, the Boston Red Sox are the world champions of baseball, winning the 2013 World Series championship thanks to a 6-1 win in Game Six. David Ortiz was named the series MVP after batting .688 / .760 / 1.188 with 11 hits, including two home runs at six RBI. Down 2-1 after three games, Boston won three straight to close the series and clinch a world championship at Fenway Park for the first time since 1918, when the Red Sox beat the Chicago Cubs four games to two, with Carl Mays earning the win.
John Lackey picked up the win for Boston in the final game and became the first pitcher in league history to win the clinching game of a World Series twice, having done it once before in Game Seven of the 2002 World Series for the Anaheim Angels. The Red Sox also became the first time to win three World Series in the 21st century.
The Red Sox, after faltering in late 2011 to miss the postseason and finishing last in the American League East with just 69 wins in 2012, managed to far exceed all preseason expectations, as most prognosticators picked John Farrell’s club to finish in the cellar for a second straight season. Instead, the Sox finished with the best record in the American League and tied with the St. Louis Cardinals, their World Series opponent, for the best record in baseball at 97-65. Boston then managed to best the rival Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS, three games to one, before winning its 12th pennant by defeating the Detroit Tigers in six games.