The 2018 Boston Red Sox didn’t spend much time fighting from behind.
This team didn’t need any underdog story. The Red Sox were heavy favorites, which made for a surprise when they played back on their heels in Game 4 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Boston trailed into the late innings with the growing threat of the series entering a 2-2 tie.
Chris Sale gave a fateful speech in the dugout that shifted the tides of Game 4, though, that came with an urge from a fellow Red Sox pitcher.
“Brian Johnson came up to me and said, ‘Dude, I feel like somebody should say something, we’re flat right now,’” Sale shared on Bleacher Report’s “On Base With Mookie Betts” podcast with his former teammate. “… I forget exactly what moment it happened. The two wires in my head touched. The spark went and I just lose it.”
Johnson played four seasons for the Red Sox and threw a memorable complete-game shutout in 2017. It turns out his biggest impact in a Boston uniform was sparking the speech that turned the momentum back toward a championship for the Red Sox through the words of Sale.
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Boston defeated the Dodgers in five games for the team’s fourth championship since 2004.