1988 Boston Red Sox
American League East Champions
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkFenway Park
CityBoston, Massachusetts
Record89–73 (.549)
Divisional place1st
OwnersJean Yawkey,
Haywood Sullivan
PresidentJohn Harrington[lower-alpha 1]
General managerLou Gorman
Managers
TelevisionWSBK-TV, Ch. 38
(Sean McDonough, Bob Montgomery)
NESN
(Ned Martin, Jerry Remy)
RadioWPLM-FM 99.1
WPLM-AM 1390
(Ken Coleman, Joe Castiglione)
WRCA
(Bobby Serrano, Hector Martinez)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
Seasons

The 1988 Boston Red Sox season was the 88th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished first in the American League East with a record of 89 wins and 73 losses, but were then swept by the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS.

The team is best remembered for its change of fortune following its change of manager; after John McNamara was replaced by Joe Morgan, the team won its next 12 games in a stretch nicknamed "Morgan Magic".[3]

Offseason

Regular season

Record by month[6]
MonthRecordCumulativeAL EastRef.
WonLostWonLostPositionGB
April1461462nd1[7]
May111625224th7[8]
June141239343rd6[9]
July21960433rd1+1⁄2[10]
August131673592nd2[11]
September161289711st+3[12]
October0289731st+1[13]

Highlights

A rough beginning

The 1988 team seemed to start much better than their chaotic 1987 predecessors, going 14–6 in April;[6] however, the team went sour thereafter, especially for Jim Rice as he moved from left field to designated hitter. Dwight Evans also had problems when he played first base, and the usually reliable Lee Smith had problems closing, including giving up a game-winning home run to the Detroit Tigers on Opening Day.[14]

Joe Morgan

The Red Sox had an 11–16 record in May,[6] followed by a slightly better June with a 14–12 record,[6] but lost pitcher Jeff Sellers when he was hit by a line drive in Cleveland that broke his hand. Wes Gardner was moved from the bullpen to the rotation, but the team and its fans were losing patience.

"Morgan Magic"

At the All-Star break, the Red Sox were 43–42, nine games behind the Tigers in the AL East standings.[15] Management had seen enough, firing John McNamara and elevating third base coach Joe Morgan to manager.[16]

On July 15, the first game after the All-Star break, the Red Sox and Roger Clemens beat the Kansas City Royals and Bret Saberhagen, 3–1.[17] This began a 12-game winning streak,[17] which launched the Red Sox to first place over the slumping Tigers and New York Yankees. The Red Sox would later set an American League record of 24 straight home victories. Two months after Morgan became manager, the team was 81–63 and in first place by 4+1⁄2 games.[18] The team cooled off in the final two weeks of the season, finishing with nine losses in their final 13 games,[17] but held on to win the AL East, finishing one game ahead of the Tigers, for their second division title in three seasons.

Season standings

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Boston Red Sox 8973 0.549 — 53–28 36–45
Detroit Tigers 8874 0.543 1 50–31 38–43
Milwaukee Brewers 8775 0.537 2 47–34 40–41
Toronto Blue Jays 8775 0.537 2 45–36 42–39
New York Yankees 8576 0.528 3½ 46–34 39–42
Cleveland Indians 7884 0.481 11 44–37 34–47
Baltimore Orioles 54107 0.335 34½ 34–46 20–61

Record vs. opponents

1988 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —4–95–74–74–95–80–124–93–93–104–87–56–65–8
Boston 9–4—8–47–58–56–76–610–37–59–43–96–68–42–11
California 7–54–8—9–48–45–75–83–94–96–64–96–78–56–6
Chicago 7–45–74–9—3–93–97–66–64–93–95–89–48–57–5
Cleveland 9–45–84–89–3—4–96–69–45–76–74–85–76–66–7
Detroit 8–57–67–59–39–4—8–45–81–118–54–89–38–45–8
Kansas City 12–06–68–56–76–64–8—3–97–66–68–57–57–64–8
Milwaukee 9–43–109–36–64–98–59–3—7–56–73–98–48–47–6
Minnesota 9–35–79–49–47–511–16–75–7—3–95–88–57–67–5
New York 10–34–96–69–37–65–86–67–69–3—6–65–75–66–7
Oakland 8–49–39–48–58–48–45–89–38–56–6—9–48–59–3
Seattle 5–76–67–64–97–53–95–74–85–87–54–9—6–75–7
Texas 6–64–85–85–86–64–86–74–86–76–55–87–6—6–6
Toronto 8–511–26–65–77–68–58–46–75–77–63–97–56–6—

Notable transactions

Opening Day lineup

  5Brady AndersonCF
17Marty Barrett2B
26Wade Boggs    3B
14Jim RiceLF
39Mike Greenwell    RF
24Dwight Evans1B
30Sam HornDH
10Rich GedmanC
  7Spike OwenSS
21Roger ClemensP

Source:[14]

Alumni game

The team held an old-timers game on May 14, before a scheduled home game against the Seattle Mariners. The alumni game marked the 40th anniversary of the 1948 Red Sox team, which had lost a one-game playoff to the Cleveland Indians.[21] The visiting (non-Red Sox) alumni team, skippered by Lou Boudreau—who had been player-manager of the 1948 Cleveland squad—prevailed by an 8–2 score, led by four RBIs from former Pittsburgh Pirate Manny Sanguillén.[21]

Roster

1988 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CRich Gedman9529969.231939
1BTodd Benzinger120405103.2541370
2BMarty Barrett150612173.283165
3BWade Boggs155584214.366558
SSJody Reed10933899.293128
LFMike Greenwell158590192.32522119
CFEllis Burks144540159.2941892
RFDwight Evans149559164.29321111
DHJim Rice135485128.2641572

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Rick Cerone8426471.269327
Spike Owen8925764.249518
Larry Parrish5215841.259726
Brady Anderson4114834.230012
Kevin Romine577815.19216
Ed Romero317518.24005
Sam Horn24619.14828
Pat Dodson17458.17811
John Marzano10294.13801
Randy Kutcher19122.16700
Carlos Quintana562.33302

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Roger Clemens35264.018122.93291
Bruce Hurst33216.21863.66166
Oil Can Boyd23129.2975.3471
Mike Boddicker1589.0732.6356
Steve Ellsworth836.0166.7516
Steve Curry311.0018.184

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Wes Gardner36149.2863.50106
Mike Smithson31126.2965.9773
Jeff Sellers1885.2174.8370

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Lee Smith6445292.8096
Bob Stanley576453.1957
Dennis Lamp467603.4849
Tom Bolton281314.7521
John Trautwein90109.008
Zach Crouch30006.750
Mike Rochford20000.001
Rob Woodward100013.500

ALCS

Game 1

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 000 100 100 260
Boston 000 000 100 160
W: Rick Honeycutt (1-0)   L: Bruce Hurst (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (1)
HR: OAK – José Canseco (1)

Game 2

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 000 000 301 4101
Boston 000 002 100 341
W: Gene Nelson (1-0)   L: Lee Smith (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (2)
HR: OAK – José Canseco (2)   BOS – Rich Gedman (1)

Game 3

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Boston 320 000 100 6120
Oakland 042 010 12X 10151
W: Gene Nelson (2-0)   L: Mike Boddicker (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (3)
HR: OAK – Mark McGwire (1)  Carney Lansford (1)  Ron Hassey (1)  Dave Henderson (1)  BOS – Mike Greenwell (1)

Game 4

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Boston 000 001 000 140
Oakland 101 000 02X 4101
W: Dave Stewart (1-0)   L: Bruce Hurst (0-2)  S: Dennis Eckersley (4)
HR: OAK – José Canseco (3)

Awards and honors

Awards
Accomplishments

All-Star Game

Farm system

The Lynchburg Red Sox replaced the Greensboro Hornets as a Class A affiliate. The Arizona League Red Sox/Mariners (a cooperative team) were added as a Rookie League affiliate.

Level Team League Manager
AAA Pawtucket Red Sox International League Ed Nottle
AA New Britain Red Sox Eastern League Dave Holt
A Lynchburg Red Sox Carolina League Dick Berardino
A Winter Haven Red Sox Florida State League Doug Camilli
A-Short Season Elmira Pioneers New York–Penn League Bill Limoncelli
Rookie AZL Mariners/Red Sox Arizona League Mike Verdi and Myron Pines

Arizona League team affiliation shared with the Seattle Mariners[22]
Source:[2][23]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Red Sox list 1987–2001 as Harrington's tenure as president,[1] although the team's 1988 media guide listed Jean Yawkey as president.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Club Executives" (PDF). Boston Red Sox Media Guide. Boston Red Sox. 2020. pp. 23–24. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 22, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2020 – via Wayback Machine.
  2. 1 2 Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
  3. ↑ Cafardo, Nick (April 24, 2016). "Baseball notes". The Boston Globe. p. C4. Retrieved October 12, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Lee Smith Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  5. ↑ Dennis Lamp Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
  6. 1 2 3 4 "The 1988 Boston Red Sox". Retrosheet. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Events of Saturday, April 30, 1988".
  8. ↑ "Events of Tuesday, May 31, 1988".
  9. ↑ "Events of Thursday, June 30, 1988".
  10. ↑ "Events of Sunday, July 31, 1988".
  11. ↑ "Events of Wednesday, August 31, 1988".
  12. ↑ "Events of Friday, September 30, 1988".
  13. ↑ "Events of Sunday, October 2, 1988".
  14. 1 2 "Detroit Tigers 5, Boston Red Sox 3". Retrosheet. April 4, 1988. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  15. ↑ "Standings At Close of Play of July 10, 1988". Retrosheet. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  16. ↑ "John McNamara's short season". Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut. July 15, 1988. p. E1. Retrieved October 12, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
  17. 1 2 3 "The 1988 Boston Red Sox Regular Season Game Log". Retrosheet. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Standings At Close of Play of September 13, 1988". Retrosheet. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  19. ↑ Rick Cerone Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  20. ↑ Brady Anderson Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  21. 1 2 Sudyk, Bob (May 15, 1988). "Old-Timers game a '48 reminder". Hartford Courant. p. B5. Retrieved May 24, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "1988 AZL Red Sox/Mariners". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  23. ↑ Boston Red Sox Media Guide. 1988. p. 123. Retrieved March 14, 2021 – via Wayback Machine.
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