Best duos in Boston Red Sox history
In Major League Baseball, it takes more than one skilled player to field a championship contender. It takes talent all over the field at a variety of positions, both in terms of pitchers and hitters. While having a star pitcher and a star hitter at the same time is no guarantee of success, it does put your team in a position to have the type of season that fans will talk about for generations.
While it's not quite the same as the NBA, where one standout duo can take a team from the cellar to playoff contention, it's not uncommon for an outstanding season from a pitcher and position player duo to add 20 wins or more, according to Baseball Reference's wins above replacement player metric. The number is designed to illustrate the difference between a star player and the type of player that would be considered "replacement level"—that is, one who could be easily signed as a midseason free agent or called up from the minor leagues.
The following is a list of the top pitcher/position player duos in Boston Red Sox history. Using wins above replacement, Stacker compiled a list of the seasons in franchise history that had a pitcher and hitter with the most combined value. Note that, for the purpose of capturing and examining the game's "modern era", only seasons after 1969 were used for this list.
#10. 1970 Boston Red Sox
- Carl Yastrzemski: 9.5 WAR (#1 position player in 1970)
- Ray Culp: 5.1 WAR (#11 pitcher in 1970)
- Total: 14.6 WAR
#9. 1978 Boston Red Sox
- Jim Rice: 7.6 WAR (#1 position player in 1978)
- Dennis Eckersley: 7.3 WAR (#4 pitcher in 1978)
- Total: 14.9 WAR
#8. 1985 Boston Red Sox
- Wade Boggs: 9.1 WAR (#2 position player in 1985)
- Oil Can Boyd: 6.1 WAR (#9 pitcher in 1985)
- Total: 15.2 WAR
#7. 1988 Boston Red Sox
- Wade Boggs: 8.3 WAR (#1 position player in 1988)
- Roger Clemens: 7.1 WAR (#5 pitcher in 1988)
- Total: 15.4 WAR
#6. 1979 Boston Red Sox
- Fred Lynn: 8.9 WAR (#1 position player in 1979)
- Dennis Eckersley: 7.2 WAR (#2 pitcher in 1979)
- Total: 16.1 WAR
#5. 1999 Boston Red Sox
- Nomar Garciaparra: 6.6 WAR (#9 position player in 1999)
- Pedro Martinez: 9.8 WAR (#1 pitcher in 1999)
- Total: 16.4 WAR
#4. 1986 Boston Red Sox
- Wade Boggs: 8.1 WAR (#1 position player in 1986)
- Roger Clemens: 8.8 WAR (#2 pitcher in 1986)
- Total: 16.9 WAR
#3. 2018 Boston Red Sox
- Mookie Betts: 10.7 WAR (#1 position player in 2018)
- Chris Sale: 6.5 WAR (#6 pitcher in 2018)
- Total: 17.2 WAR
#2. 1987 Boston Red Sox
- Wade Boggs: 8.3 WAR (#2 position player in 1987)
- Roger Clemens: 9.4 WAR (#1 pitcher in 1987)
- Total: 17.7 WAR
#1. 2000 Boston Red Sox
- Nomar Garciaparra: 7.4 WAR (#8 position player in 2000)
- Pedro Martinez: 11.7 WAR (#1 pitcher in 2000)
- Total: 19.1 WAR
