McCarthy: Soak It In, Enjoy It, Never Take It For Granted
By Matt McCarthy, 985TheSportsHub.com
The Red Sox are World Series champions.
Again.
With Sunday’s win, the Red Sox are now the most successful baseball team of the new millennium, claiming four World Series titles dating back to 2004. Nobody has won more this century than the Boston Red Sox. Let that sink in.
What world are we living in?
This isn’t your father’s Red Sox or your grandfather’s Red Sox. They are lovable losers no more. The 2018 edition won 119 games in total and steamrolled their way to a championship and made it look easy in the process. They didn’t know how to lose.
This whole city doesn’t know how to lose now.
I’ll fully admit it: I’m one of these millennial brat Bostonians who has experienced almost nothing but unprecedented success as a sports fan in my lifetime.
I didn’t have my soul crushed in ’86 by Buckner, Gedman, Stanley, and Schiraldi. I didn’t have my heart ripped out by Bucky Dent in ‘78. I didn’t see a title sail over the Monster on an Eephus pitch in ’75. I didn’t have Bob Gibson wake me up from an Impossible Dream in ‘67, I didn’t live through Mel Parnell not starting the American League tiebreaker game in ’48 and I didn’t see Pesky hold the ball in ’46.
But it’s not lost on me that the remarkable transformation of the Red Sox into perennial winners is something that must have been beyond the wildest dreams of generations of Red Sox fans. They suffered, they hurt, they lived and they died and they didn’t experience anything like this.
How truly lucky we are to live in this new world of success.
Oct 28, 2018; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Boston Red Sox first baseman Steve Pearce (25) celebrates with teammates after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in game five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
I was raised and conditioned to believe that the Red Sox will always let you down, will always disappoint you, and will always break your heart in the end. Apparently I was lied to. The old Red Sox are dead. The new Red Sox are here and they’re here to win.
On Wednesday, the Duck Boats will roll down Boylston Street, carrying the Red Sox for the fourth time and a Boston champion for the eleventh time since 2001. It feels like they won’t be the last team to get a parade through the streets of Boston, either. The end of this historic run doesn’t appear to be in sight.
But someday, it will come to an end, and we’ll never experience anything like these years ever again.
Soak it in.
Enjoy it.
And never take it for granted.
You can hear Matt McCarthy on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s own Hardcore Baseball podcast and on various 98.5 The Sports Hub programs. Follow him on Twitter @MattMcCarthy985.
