One Hundred

One hundred bottles of beer on the wall.

Section 36 hasn't looked this good in a while!
Photo by SoxyGal Photography

One hundred acre wood.

One hundred wins in a season.

The Red Sox joined that rarified air last night when they won their 100th game of 2018. 

As with most impressive achievements by the Sox lately, not only do they show how great the current team or player is, they really show off how amazing the older teams were. Much like every time David Ortiz would launch a deep home run to right field, I would marvel at how much farther into the seats Ted’s red seat is. In this case, the 100th win makes me look at some of the older teams.

For instance, in 1946 the Red Sox also won 100 games. 104, in fact. But they only played 154 games that year. So, 104-50 was their record that year, for an incredible .675 winning percentage. This year’s team will have to keep rolling to finish with that record. (Basically, any time your team starts approaching the numbers from the 1946 team, you’re having a dang good year.)

Or, the 1912 team. That team dominated the league to the tune of 105 wins. They only played 152 games, resulting in a .691 percentage. That’s even above this year’s pace. The 2018 Red Sox would need to win 112 games to match that pace.

Insane.

Of course, as the 1946 team would tell you, this milestone is just another one that doesn’t really matter. People define greatness as winning the last game. It’s odd, but it’s what we have. So the Red Sox will need to carry on. They’ll need to see how many regular season wins they can accumulate, but they’ll also have to make damn sure that they win eleven games in the playoffs.

To some, without those eleven, these hundred won’t mean a thing.