The Boston Red Sox went 95-67 in 2008, a .586 winning percentage — 4th of 30 record in baseball. They scored 845 runs and allowed 694, a run differential of +151. The offence ranked the third best in MLB for runs scored, while their 3.98 staff ERA was 7th of 30. Their 118 team wRC+ was 18% above league average — the best in MLB. Manny Ramirez led the position players at 6.5 WAR, and Josh Beckett the rotation at a 4.03 ERA.
The 2008 season
Month by month, the streaks, and the record in the games that are argued about.
They finished 2nd in the AL East, 2 games back. They spent 68 of 190 days in first place, led by as many as 3.5 games on May 5 and were as far as 5.5 games back on August 23. Their best month was August at 18-9, their worst July at 11-13. The longest runs were a 7-game winning streak from May 17 to May 22 and a 5-game losing streak from April 23 to April 27. They were 56-25 at home and 39-42 on the road, 22-23 in one-run games and 49-49 against clubs that finished .500 or better. The most lopsided win was 18-5 against the Twins on July 9; the heaviest defeat, 15-4 against the Blue Jays on August 17.
Record by month. March games count toward April, October’s toward September.
Month
W
L
Pct
RS
RA
Diff
March/April
17
12
.586
136
130
+6
May
17
12
.586
154
121
+33
June
16
11
.593
138
105
+33
July
11
13
.458
110
100
+10
August
18
9
.667
170
118
+52
Sept/Oct
16
10
.615
137
120
+17
Splits. Extra innings are blank for a season whose games predate the innings count.
Games
W-L
Pct
Home
56-25
.691
Road
39-42
.481
One-run games
22-23
.489
Extra innings
8-3
.727
Within the division
38-34
.528
Against .500+ clubs
49-49
.500
Decided by 5+ runs
33-17
.660
Last 10
6-4
.600
2008 postseason
In October the Boston Red Sox beat the Angels 3-1 in the ALDS, then lost the ALCS to the Rays 4-3.
ALDS vs Angels3-1 W
Game 1, October 1 W 4-1 at Angels
Game 2, October 3 W 7-5 at Angels
Game 3, October 5 L 4-5 vs Angels
Game 4, October 6 W 3-2 vs Angels
ALCS vs Rays3-4 L
Game 1, October 10 W 2-0 at Rays
Game 2, October 11 L 8-9 at Rays
Game 3, October 13 L 1-9 vs Rays
Game 4, October 14 L 4-13 vs Rays
Game 5, October 16 W 8-7 vs Rays
Game 6, October 18 W 4-2 at Rays
Game 7, October 19 L 1-3 at Rays
American League East standings, 2008
Final standings. The division page has the rest of its season.
American League East, 2008. Games back of the best record in the division.
The players whose season belongs to this club, by position and then by dbWAR. A player traded mid-season is listed with the club he played most of his games for, so a deadline arrival may appear on his other club’s page instead.
Each rectangle is a player, sized by his share of the team's hits; darker means a larger share. Top 30 contributors. Select a different statistic above, or click a player for his page.
Day and night divide the home schedule, and so do weekend and weekday. The road line is a different question.
Split
Games
Avg
Med
Low
High
All home
81
37,633
37,694
36,567
38,172
Night
58
37,761
37,768
37,190
38,172
Day
23
37,310
37,344
36,567
37,848
Weekend
39
37,522
37,480
37,007
37,958
Weekday
42
37,736
37,784
36,567
38,172
On the road
81
38,368
38,621
18,782
55,130
Through the season
Average home crowd by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
15
37,609
May
11
37,557
Jun
15
37,662
Jul
12
37,717
Aug
11
37,715
Sep
17
37,563
By season
Announced gate — tickets distributed, which is the figure every reference publishes and is not the same as people through the turnstile. A game the feed reports no gate for is left out rather than counted as empty. Seasons before attendance was carried into the lake are absent from the trend rather than shown as zero.
Game time
First pitch to final out across 162 completed games, 2008.
Regulation
3:02
151 games
All games
3:06
Extra innings
3:56
11 of them
Longest
5:02
2008-09-10, 14 inn
Shortest
2:18
2008-04-29
By situation
Regulation and extra innings divide the season, and so do home and road. Day and night overlap both.
Split
Games
Avg
Med
Fastest
Longest
All
162
3:06
3:01
2:11
5:02
Regulation
151
3:02
2:59
2:11
4:08
Extra innings
11
3:56
3:50
3:10
5:02
Home
81
3:06
3:01
2:18
5:02
Road
81
3:05
3:01
2:11
4:49
Day
46
3:09
3:06
2:25
4:25
Night
116
3:04
2:59
2:11
5:02
Through the season
Average completed game by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
15
3:11
May
11
3:07
Jun
15
3:02
Jul
12
3:06
Aug
11
3:01
Sep
17
3:07
By season
Regulation games only, in minutes. 182 minutes this season.
Elapsed time from first pitch to final out. The feed does not itemise delays, so a rain delay is inside these numbers with no way to subtract it. Games called early are excluded — five innings in ninety-three minutes is not a short game — but they still count in attendance, because the crowd turned up.
Record versus run differential
Boston Red Sox are 95-67, a .586 win rate, while their +151 run differential implies .589. That is essentially in line — the record reflects the run scoring.
