2013 Boston Red Sox
Many World Champions make their title(s) part of a longer sustained run of competitiveness. It's not unreasonable though to have a title run happen right after a terrible season when suddenly everything clicks...or even a title run come right before a terrible season where everything strangely falls apart. Such terrible seasons preceding or following a title finish are usually shrugged off as blips on the radar of an otherwise strong team...but only once has that been reversed, where terrible seasons are briefly interrupted with a random World Series title.
The 2011-2015 era of the Red Sox deserves study. 2011 was the famous "Chicken and Beer" collapse where the Red Sox choked away what was a nearly locked up trip to the playoffs. 2012 saw them follow up with a last place finish in the AL East. In 2014 and '15, they also finished dead last in the division...but 2013 saw them immediately click with new Manager John Farrell. They finished the season 97-65, 5.5 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays for the division and one game ahead for the best record in the American League.
The postseason journey began at home, hosting the Rays. It was a relatively easy 3-1 series win, with the only loss coming in Game 3 where the Red Sox tied it in the 9th and lost on a walk off. For the ALCS, the Red Sox faced the defending AL champion Detroit Tigers. After splitting the first four games, the Red Sox took command in Game 5 with an early lead and holding on after a Tigers comeback. In the 7th inning of Game 6, the Tigers clung to a slim 2-1 lead when Shane Victorino delivered the knockout with a go-ahead grand slam to deliver the pennant with a 5-2 result, sending the BoSox to the fall classic.
In the World Series, the Red Sox split the first 2 games with the St. Louis Cardinals as the series shifted to Missouri. In Game 3, the teams would trade blows back and forth until they had a tie game in the bottom of the 9th. The Cardinals had runners on 2nd (Yadier Molina) and 3rd (Allen Craig) with one out. John Jay stepped up and hit a hard grounder to Dustin Pedroia at 2nd Base, who made a diving stop and from his knees made the throw home to Jarrod Saltalamacchia just in time to tag out Molina for out #2. Saltalamacchia then threw to 3rd base to try to get Craig as he tried to advance, but his throw was wide and 3rd Baseman Will Middlebrooks made a dive to try catching the errant throw but came up empty. The ball went down into the left field foul area as Craig got up and tried to score, but the ball was retrieved and sent home in time for Saltalamacchia to apply the tag...but the umpire ruled him safe. The entire Red Sox team stormed onto the field to scream and protest, and eventually the umpires explained the controversy. After Saltalamacchia made the wide throw to 3rd Base, Craig attempted to get up and score the winning run, only to get tripped up by Middlebrooks when he lifted his legs to interfere with the runner. The delay was just enough to buy the Red Sox enough time to get the ball back in, and the umpires ruled that Craig would have scored if not for the illegal interference. So instead, Craig was safe and the Cardinals won the game in the first ever WS game decided by an interference call.
Despite the setback, the Red Sox handled business in Games 4 and 5, taking a 3-2 lead back to Boston where they easily handled things in Game 6 to clinch their 8th title in history. Despite the high of winning a World Series and it being John Farrell's 1st season in charge, the Red Sox went right back to losing the following season, making them the first team in history to go from worst-to-first-to-worst in a three year stretch. Despite 4 out of 5 years in the early 2010's being miserable and embarrassing, many would still consider it a worthy trade for that other year to be the ultimate prize of a championship.
