1998 Boston Red Sox season

1998 Boston Red Sox
1998 AL Wild Card
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Fenway Park (since 1912)
Boston, Massachusetts (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	JRY Trust
General manager(s)	Dan Duquette
Manager(s)	Jimy Williams
Local television	WABU (Sean McDonough, Jerry Remy) NESN (Bob Kurtz, Jerry Remy)
Local radio	WEEI (Jerry Trupiano, Joe Castiglione) WRCA (Bobby Serrano, Hector Martinez)
< Previous season     Next season  >

The 1998 Boston Red Sox season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Red Sox finishing 2nd in the American League East with a record of 92 wins and 70 losses.

Offseason

• November 6, 1997: Jim Leyritz was traded by the Texas Rangers with Damon Buford to the Boston Red Sox for Mark Brandenburg, Bill Haselman, and Aaron Sele.^[1]
• November 17, 1997: Bret Saberhagen was signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.^[2]
• November 18, 1997: Pedro Martínez was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later and Carl Pavano. The Boston Red Sox sent Tony Armas (December 18, 1997) to the Montreal Expos to complete the trade.^[3]
• November 21, 1997: Mike Benjamin was signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.^[4]
• March 19, 1998: Midre Cummings was selected off waivers by the Boston Red Sox from the Cincinnati Reds.^[5]

Regular season

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	114	48	0.704	—	62–19	52–29
Boston Red Sox	92	70	0.568	22	51–30	41–40
Toronto Blue Jays	88	74	0.543	26	51–30	37–44
Baltimore Orioles	79	83	0.488	35	42–39	37–44
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	63	99	0.389	51	33–48	30–51

Record vs. opponents

1998 American League Records Sources:
Team	ANA	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TB	TEX	TOR	NL
Anaheim	—	5–6	6–5	5–6	4–7	8–3	6–5	6–5	6–5	5–7	9–3	6–5	5–7	4–7	10–6
Baltimore	6–5	—	6–6	2–9	5–6	10–1	5–6	7–3	3–9	8–3	6–5	5–7	6–5	5–7	5–11
Boston	5–6	6–6	—	5–6	8–3	5–5	8–3	5–6	5–7	9–2	7–4	9–3	6–5	5–7	9–7
Chicago	6–5	9–2	6–5	—	6–6	6–6	8–4	6–6	4–7	4–7	4–7	5–6	5–6	4–6–1	7–9
Cleveland	7–4	6–5	3–8	6–6	—	9–3	8–4	6–6	4–7	3–8	9–2	7–3	4–7	7–4	10–6
Detroit	3–8	1–10	5–5	6–6	3–9	—	6–6	8–4	3–8	7–4	3–8	5–6	3–8	5–6	7–9
Kansas City	5–6	6–5	3–8	4–8	4–8	6–6	—	7–5	0–10	7–4	4–6	8–3	3–8	6–5	9–7
Minnesota	5–6	3–7	6–5	6–6	6–6	4–8	5–7	—	4–7	4–7	2–9	7–4	7–4	4–7	7–9
New York	5–6	9–3	7–5	7–4	7–4	8–3	10–0	7–4	—	8–3	8–3	11–1	8–3	6–6	13–3
Oakland	7–5	3–8	2–9	7–4	8–3	4–7	4–7	7–4	3–8	—	5–7	5–6	6–6	5–6	8–8
Seattle	3–9	5–6	4–7	7–4	2–9	8–3	6–4	9–2	3–8	7–5	—	6–5	5–7	4–7	7–9
Tampa Bay	5–6	7–5	3–9	6–5	3–7	6–5	3–8	4–7	1–11	6–5	5–6	—	4–7	5–7	5–11
Texas	7–5	5–6	5–6	6–5	7–4	8–3	8–3	4–7	3–8	6–6	7–5	7–4	—	7–4	8–8
Toronto	7–4	7–5	7–5	6–4–1	4–7	6–5	5–6	7–4	6–6	6–5	7–4	7–5	4–7	—	9–7

Notable transactions

• June 2, 1998: Mark Teixeira was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 9th round of the 1998 amateur draft, but did not sign.^[6]
• June 20, 1998: Jim Leyritz was traded by the Boston Red Sox with Ethan Faggett (minors) to the San Diego Padres for Carlos Reyes, Mandy Romero, and Darío Veras.^[1]
• July 31, 1998: Greg Swindell was traded by the Minnesota Twins with Orlando Merced to the Boston Red Sox for John Barnes, Matt Kinney, and Joe Thomas (minors).^[7]

Opening Day Line Up

5	Nomar Garciaparra	SS
13	John Valentin	3B
42	Mo Vaughn	1B
18	Reggie Jefferson	DH
25	Troy O'Leary	LF
10	Scott Hatteberg	C
20	Darren Lewis	CF
56	Darren Bragg	RF
52	Donnie Sadler	2B
45	Pedro Martínez	P

Roster

1998 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers 33 Steve Avery 59 Brian Barkley 40 Robinson Checo 61 Jin-ho Cho 41 Jim Corsi 43 Dennis Eckersley 34 Rich Garcés 36 Tom Gordon 27 Butch Henry 32 Derek Lowe 57 Ron Mahay 45 Pedro Martínez 55 Carlos Reyes 19 Brian Rose 17 Bret Saberhagen 51 Pete Schourek 55 Brian Shouse 37 Greg Swindell 65 Carlos Valdez 31 Darío Veras 49 Tim Wakefield 46 John Wasdin 39 David West		Catchers 10 Scott Hatteberg 31 Jim Leyritz 54 Mandy Romero 47 Jason Varitek Infielders 28 Mike Benjamin  5 Nomar Garciaparra 18 Reggie Jefferson 51 Keith Johns 15 Mark Lemke 50 Lou Merloni 52 Donnie Sadler 26 Chris Snopek 20 Mike Stanley 13 John Valentin 42 Mo Vaughn		Outfielders 23 Billy Ashley 56 Darren Bragg  2 Damon Buford 29 Midre Cummings 20 Darren Lewis 26 Orlando Merced 30 Keith Mitchell  7 Trot Nixon 25 Troy O'Leary		Manager 22 Jimy Williams Coaches 48 Dave Jauss (First base) 16 Joe Kerrigan (Pitching) 12 Wendell Kim (Third base) 60 Dana Levangie (Bullpen) 35 Grady Little (Bench) 14 Jim Rice (Hitting) 38 Dick Pole (Bullpen)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; R = Runs; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In; Avg. = Batting Average; Slg. = Slugging Average; SB = Stolen Bases

Pos.	Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	Slg.	SB
C	Scott Hatteberg	112	359	46	99	12	43	.276	.446	0
1B	Mo Vaughn	154	609	107	205	40	115	.337	.591	0
2B	Mike Benjamin	124	349	46	95	4	39	.272	.372	3
3B	John Valentin	153	588	113	145	23	73	.247	.442	4
SS	Nomar Garciaparra	143	604	111	195	35	122	.323	.584	12
LF	Troy O'Leary	156	611	95	165	23	83	.270	.468	2
CF	Darren Lewis	155	585	95	157	8	63	.268	.362	29
RF	Darren Bragg	129	409	51	114	8	57	.279	.423	5
DH	Damon Buford	86	216	37	61	10	42	.282	.523	5

^[8]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

ALDS

Game 1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	3	0	0	0	3	2	0	3	0	11	12	0
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	3	6	0
W: Pedro Martínez (1-0)   L: Jaret Wright (0-1)
HR: BOS: Mo Vaughn (2), Nomar Garciaparra; CLE: Kenny Lofton, Jim Thome

Game 2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	5	10	0
Cleveland	1	5	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	9	9	1
W: Dave Burba (1-0)   L: Tim Wakefield (0-1)    S: Mike Jackson (1)
HR: CLE: David Justice

Game 3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	4	5	0
Boston	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	3	6	0
W: Charles Nagy (1-0)   L: Bret Saberhagen (0-1); S: Mike Jackson (2)
HR: CLE: Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton, Manny Ramírez (2); BOS – Nomar Garciaparra

Game 4

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	5	0
Boston	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0
W: Steve Reed (1-0)   L: Tom Gordon (0-1)  S: Mike Jackson (3)
HR: BOS: Nomar Garciaparra

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Pawtucket Red Sox	International League	Ken Macha
AA	Trenton Thunder	Eastern League	DeMarlo Hale
A	Sarasota Red Sox	Florida State League	Bob Geren
A	Michigan Battle Cats	Midwest League	Billy Gardner, Jr.
A-Short Season	Lowell Spinners	New York–Penn League	Dick Berardino
Rookie	GCL Red Sox	Gulf Coast League	Luis Aguayo

^[9]

References

1. Jim Leyritz Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
2. Bret Saberhagen Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
3. Pedro Martinez Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
4. Mike Benjamin Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
5. Midre Cummings Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
6. Mark Teixeira Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
7. Greg Swindell Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
8. 1998 Seattle Mariners Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
9. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

• 1998 Boston Red Sox team page at Baseball Reference
• 1998 Boston Red Sox season at baseball-almanac.com