David Ortiz wasn’t really a first basemen he was a Designated Hitter. His only position in the field was first base but he played only 278 career games there. He or Edgar Martinez are the greatest DHs of all time. I eliminated Frank Thomas as he played a lot of first base and hit a lot better as a first baseman. I had both Ortiz and Martinez in my Hall of Fame despite not having enough points in my system. Now Ortiz does. Martinez moved up at third base, so I won’t change my mind about him. Since, I added more players in the Hall of Fame I won’t be adding any additional ones. I am going to have my new Hall of Fame article in two articles.
I already mentioned Ortiz had bonus points for being the greatest post season player of all time. Not only such a great hitting record, but his clutch hits he had. Ortiz is first in post season win probability added and ninth in post season championship win probability added. Everyone who follows baseball knows about his heroics in the 2004 playoffs, so I talked more about the 2013 post season. Since I talked about his key homerun in the American League Championship Series in the Max Scherzer article I will talk about his great World Series that year in this article. First I want to mention that Ortez played in 18 series in the post season and had a. 947 OPS which is excellent. Starting in the 2003 American League Championship Series Ortiz played 8 straight Series which he had an OPS over .900. He had two other series in his career where he had an OPS of over 1.000. He actually went over 1.000 in 7 series in his post season career.
Now onto the 2013 World Series where Ortiz only made 6 outs (including a sacrifice fly) in 6 games. He got on base 19 times in the 6 games with 11 hits and 8 walks. He scored 7 runs and drove in 6. His Ops was 1.948 which is almost unbelievable for 6 games. Of course, he was named MVP of the World Series. Let us go through it game by game.
Game 1: Boston won 8-1. Ortiz went 2 for 3 scoring 2 runs and knocking in 3. In the first inning Ortiz hit a ground out but the shortstop made an error getting the runner coming to second loading the bases. The following batter Mike Nopoli hit a bases clearing double to put the Red Sox up 3-0. In the second Ortez hit a Sacrifice Fly to make the score 5-0. Ortiz hadn’t done much yet, so Boston basically jump to the big lead without him. In the bottom of the seventh Ortiz hit a two-run homer to make the lead 7-0 basically ending what little suspense that was left in the game.
Game 2: St. Louis 4 Boston 2. Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to put the Red Sox ahead 2-1. It was the big hit of the game increasing Boston’s chance to win the game 33 percent. However, St. Louis came back with a three-run rally in the top of the seventh to win the game 4-2.
Game 3: St. Louis 5 Boston 4. Ortiz went 1 for 2 with 2 walks, one intentional. He didn’t score or drive in a run. This game was remembered for the last play. The Cardinals had men on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Molina tried to score from third that the second basemen Dustin Pedroia made an excellent play getting Molina at the plate. However, the Boston catcher saw the runner from second going to third and threw the ball there. The third baseman leapt for the ball landed on the runner Allen Craig going to third. They kind of tangles up as Craig was leaving third. Craig then tried to score but the left fielder got the ball and threw Craig out at the plate. What nobody but the umpires understood was the game was already over. The third base umpire called interference on the third basemen for tripping Allen unintentionally when leaving third. In this case the runner gets the next base which was home plate giving him the winning run. The third baseman didn’t do it on purpose, but it didn’t matter. It was an excellent call. St. Louis now had the momentum in the World Series.
Game 4: Boston 4 St. Louis 2. Ortiz went 3 for 3 with a walk, scoring 2 runs. With his team down 1-0 in the top of the 5ifth Ortiz hit a double to lead off and later scored on a sacrifice fly to tie the game. The double was the fourth biggest play of the game increasing his teams chance of winning by 9 percent. In the top of the sixth with two out and a runner on first Ortiz walked. Jonny Gomes hit a three-run homer to follow making the score 4-1. The Red Sox held on to win 4-2.
Game 5: Boston 3 St. Louis 1. Ortiz went 3 for 4 with 1 RBI. Ortiz hit an RBI double in the first to give Boston a 1-0 lead. It was the third biggest play of the game increasing Boston’s chance of winning the game 10 percent.
Game 6: Boston 6 St. Louis 1. Ortiz went 0 for 1 but walked 4 times and scoring 2 runs. Shane Victorino drove him in both times. Victorino hit a 3-run homer in the third to make the game 3-0. In the fourth, Boston scored 3 more runs to make the game 6-0 with Victorino driving in Ortiz with the sixth run. Boston held on to win 6-1 and win the World Series.
