1988 Boston Red Sox season


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.

Offseason

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable Transactions

The Rough Beginning

The 1988 team seemed to start much better than their chaotic 1987 season as evidenced by their 14-6 record in April; however, the team went sour thereafter specially for Jim Rice as he moved from left field to designated hitter. Dwight Evans also had problems when he played first base; usually reliable Lee Smith had problems including when he gave up a game-winning home run against the Tigers on Opening Day. The Red Sox would have an 11-16 record in May.
The team would have a slightly better June with a 14-12 record, but lost Jeff Sellers when he was hit by a line drive in Cleveland and broke his hand. Wes Gardner was moved from the bullpen to become a starter, but the team and its fans were losing patience.

Morgan Magic

At the All-Star break the Red Sox were 43-42, 9 games behind the front running division champion Detroit Tigers. But management had seen enough, and fired John McNamara and hired 58-year-old Joe Morgan as their manager. On July 15, the Red Sox and Roger Clemens beat Bret Saberhagen's Kansas City Royals 3-1 in the first game of a doubleheader to begin a 12-game winning streak that launched them to first place over the slumping Yankees and Tigers. The Red Sox would later set an American League record of 24 straight home victories. 60 days after Morgan became Red Sox manager they were 81-63 and 4.5 games ahead of first.

Staggering But Still Won The East

After a bad road trip to Toronto, the Sox came to Yankee Stadium up by 4, and won 2 out of 3 to just about clinch the A.L. East title. Unfortunately, the hitting slump the team had been in for a while reasserted itself, and the Sox lost 3 to Toronto in Boston, but they crushed the Indians on September 29 to clinch a tie for first. The Yanks and Milwaukee lost the next day, and the division title was Boston's. Their 2nd A.L. East title in 3 seasons.

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. The visiting 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.

Roster

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
PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
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

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Other pitchers

Relief pitchers

ALCS

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

Awards and honors

;Awards
;Accomplishments
All-Star Game
The Lynchburg Red Sox replaced the Greensboro Hornets as a Class A affiliate. The Arizona League Red Sox/Mariners were added as a Rookie League affiliate.
AZL club affiliation shared with Seattle Mariners