LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 28: Steve Pearce #25 of the Boston Red Sox hits a solo home run during the eighth inning of game five of the 2018 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on October 28, 2018 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. It was his second home run of the game. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
Steve Pearce’s one-year deal with the Red Sox in 2019 will essentially be a season-long celebration for his World Series heroics.
Steve Pearce has definitely been around the block in Major League Baseball, having played for seven different teams. That statement rings especially true in the AL East, as the 35-year-old veteran has spent a little bit of time with all five teams in that division.
But Pearce’s journey came to its peak in 2018, when he landed with the team he rooted for as a kid, the Boston Red Sox, and experienced winning a World Series championship for the first time in his career. As icing on the cake, Pearce was named World Series MVP after belting three home runs against the Los Angeles Dodgers, including two in the clinching Game 5 at Dodger Stadium.
As a result of his October heroics, the Red Sox decided to bring Pearce back on a one-year deal worth $6.25 million. It’s hard to tell if Pearce will be able to carry his clutch postseason performances over to the 2019 season, but it won’t really matter if he does or doesn’t.
Pearce’s one-year deal with the Red Sox means that he will essentially be taking a victory tour in Boston, where he will get treated for an entire season like the postseason hero that he is. Every time he comes to the plate at Fenway Park, he will be greeted with a raucous ovation from the Red Sox faithful.
The 2019 season will be a celebration for Pearce playing the best baseball of his career on MLB’s biggest stage. He’s a guy who has taken his lumps throughout his 12-year journeyman career, but it was all worth it because he finally reached the pinnacle of winning the World Series. To make it even sweeter, he was able to do it with the team he grew up cheering for, and he was able to perform well enough to be named the Series MVP.
Red Sox fans will spend the 2019 season celebrating that accomplishment with Pearce, and that’s what is most special about this one-year deal.