With no more marathon playoff games, and the parade complete, Red Sox fans still have one more celebration of the 2018 World Series champions to\u2026<\/b>
\nWith no more marathon playoff games, and the parade complete, Red Sox fans still have one more celebration of the 2018 World Series champions to look forward to. Major League Baseball\u2019s official documentary, \u201c The 2018 World Series: Damage Done,\u201d was released on Tuesday.
At 115 minutes long, the film \u2013 narrated by Emmy-winning Medfield native Uzo Aduba \u2013 focuses on the five-game Fall Classic in which the Red Sox topped the Dodgers to become champions.
A range of Red Sox players, coaches and management were interviewed for the documentary. And a few were present for its premiere at the Emerson Colonial Theatre on Monday night. Brock Holt represented the players, drawing laughter from the crowd when emcee Tom Caron introduced him for his historic cycle against the Yankees in the American League Division Series.
\u201cFirst player to ever hit for a postseason cycle, and I was telling [Alex Cora], first player to ever get benched the game after,\u201d Holt joked. The packed crowd was a vocal one, both before and during the showing of the documentary.
Here are a few takeaways from the screening. (Spoiler alert: The Red Sox win).
The opening shot of Fenway Park is narrated by Alex Cora discussing the pictures he inherited on the wall of the manager\u2019s office.
\u201cI was here in November for my press conference,\u201d Cora said, \u201cand I went to the office and they had all these pictures [on the wall] of ex-managers just staring at you. I was like, \u2018No, we\u2019re not doing that.’\u201d
This was Cora\u2019s original epiphany for the now-famous concept of pinning one photo for each win. In the closing moments of the film, Cora is seen gazing up at the 119 photos, representing the body of work in the team\u2019s historic season.
And at the screening, Cora brought the World Series trophy out on stage, receiving a standing ovation.
One narrative that the documentary cements is the place Nathan Eovaldi will always have in the history of the 2018 Red Sox. Though he lost Game 3, his tireless pitching \u2013 six innings in relief in an 18-inning game \u2013 earned unending respect from his teammates.
An emotional moment that the film captures is in the immediate aftermath of Max Muncy\u2019s walk-off home run. Eovaldi, clearly exhausted, is blank faced as he walks slowly back to the dugout. But he was immediately greeted by David Price, Cora, and other Red Sox players, all clearly in awe of his effort.
\u201cTo lose the game the way that I did, I was definitely disappointed,\u201d Eovaldi said. \u201cBut to have the reaction, all the guys at the top of the dugout and in the locker room after the game, it definitely lifted me.\u201d
\u201cThat was probably the most incredible thing I have ever seen on a baseball field,\u201d Chris Sale explained.
The crowd in the theatre erupted at virtually every appearance by Eovaldi, with several \u201cRe-sign Eovaldi\u201d shouts unequivocally reaching the ears of Red Sox president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski (seated near the front).
An enjoyable part of the film for Red Sox fans were any of Chris Sale\u2019s soundbites. The standout clip comes during Sale\u2019s explanation for his spontaneous moment in the dugout during Game 4, when Sale started yelling to encourage his teammates.
\u201cFor a split second, I just kind of lost it there,\u201d Sale said, \u201cand I was just trying to get everyone kind of refocused. I just wanted to win, and I knew we had it in us.\u201d
And when it came time to close out the ninth inning of Game 5, Sale didn\u2019t need asking.
\u201cHe got up on his own, just telling me, \u2018I\u2019m in,’\u201d Cora admitted.
The main player Red Sox fans love to boo on the Dodgers was Manny Machado. Of course, it was Machado\u2019s strikeout that ended the Series (and Sale offers an expected but nonetheless satisfying description of the at-bat).
A few other classic Boston sports villains made appearances as well. Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez were shown talking on the field prior to Game 4, each apparently confident of a Dodger comeback.
The crowd present for the screening booed with glee.
World Series MVP Steve Pearce described how he didn\u2019t know if his Game 4 home run would be caught by Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger.
\u201cVery dramatic. I didn\u2019t know if it was going to get out or not,\u201d said Pearce. But his half-hearted fist-pump turned into a full-blown celebration when he saw it was gone. In his next at-bat in the ninth inning, his bases-clearing double broke it open for Boston.
And Pearce delivered one of the lines of the film describing his approach.
\u201cThe next baseball I connect on,\u201d Pearce recalled, \u201cI\u2019m sending 50,000 people home.\u201d
As far as his continued heroics in Game 5, Pearce was succinct in his disbelief.
\u201cI can\u2019t explain it,\u201d he admitted, noting that he picked the right time to catch fire at the plate.
\u201cI gave him a hard time because we went to the same high school,\u201d Chris Sale said. \u201cI told him, \u2018Now I\u2019m No. 2 on the list at [Lakeland]. Thanks, man.’\u201d
Best line: Red Sox first base coach Tom Goodwin \u2013 mic\u2019d up for Game 3 \u2013 delivered a memorable quote when he said, \u201cWe didn\u2019t fly 3,000 miles to get shut out.\u201d Jackie Bradley Jr.\u2019s home run shortly afterward proved him correct.
Backstory on the ending of (mini) slumps: An interesting behind-the-scenes moment that fans got to see was the work Mookie Betts and J. D. Martinez put in before Game 5. The two players were very much aware that they had been conspicuously absent from the offensive production, and their extra batting cage session paid off.
Pearce knew it was over before it was: Once he saw how Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner struck out by missing badly against Sale in the 9th inning of Game 5, Pearce knew the Red Sox were going to win the World Series.
\u201cSoon as you saw that swing, you were like, \u2018Yup, he\u2019s on,’\u201d said Pearce of Sale. \u201cThis is it, this is about to happen.\u201d
Mean tweets: During the credits at the end of the film, a side screen shows Red Sox players (and Cora) reading mean tweets from angry fans following an April loss. The early takes didn\u2019t age well.<\/p>\n