The 2001 Yankees returned to the Series and were upset by the Diamondbacks. In the years since, the 2009 Phillies are the only repeat pennant winners.
The Rangers would do well to finish with a winning record after winning it all last season. They would be the 12th championship team in the last 24 years not to return to the postseason.
No team has repeated as World Series champion since the Yankees from 1998-2000. That’s not going to change this season.
Seven others made it back to the LCS and three to the Division Series. Six had losing records.
It’s a baseball-only problem. The NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, and WNBA have all had repeat champions in the last decade. The same is true for the CFP, NCAA Division 1 men’s and women’s basketball, and Division 1 men’s and women’s hockey.
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Texas manager Bruce Bochy seemed like the right person to ask about this. He was a three-time champion with the Giants from 2010-14 and guided the Rangers to the title last season. But he has never repeated.
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The 2011 Giants won 86 games but were eight games behind the Diamondbacks. There was one wild card that season, and it went to the 90-win Cardinals
“It starts with how hard it is to do the first time,” Bochy said. “A lot has to go right — career years, guys staying healthy, and getting a surprise or two.”
As an example, Evan Carter made his debut in September last season and had a 1.058 OPS in 23 games. He then started 15 postseason games and was a force at the plate in the middle of the lineup.
This season? A back injury has kept him out since late May and the Rangers haven’t received the same production from rookie Wyatt Langford.
Max Scherzer has made only eight starts because of back and shoulder injuries. Jacob deGrom hasn’t pitched at all.
Texas may not have a starter with double-digit wins this season or a hitter with even 80 RBIs unless somebody gets hot.
The Rangers started 22-17 then lost 12 of 14 and haven’t really been in contention since.
“You need things to happen, and that’s not always the case,” Bochy said. “From the offensive side, we’re not close to what we were.”
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The schedule plays a role, too, Bochy believes. With the expanded postseason, the Rangers played 17 postseason games last year, finishing their season on Nov. 1. The 1999 Yankees played 12 postseason games and were done by Oct. 27.
“At times during this season it has been a grind for some of the guys,” Bochy said. “It’s a lot of games and it’s a short offseason. I don’t want to say complacency set in, but I think that caught up with a couple of players, too. I do.”
Every championship team has tried to crack the code of repeating. The Red Sox tried having a nice-and-easy spring training after they won in 2018 and were 13-17 at the end of April.
“We’ve all tried to find a way to do it,” Bochy said. “Somebody will figure it out eventually.”
Bruce Bochy of the Texas Rangers speaks to the fans prior to the Opening Day game against the Chicago Cubs. Stacy Revere/Getty
RETIRING TYPE?
Refsnyder ponders his career options
Rob Refsnyder has revitalized his career with the Red Sox since signing a minor league contract with the organization before the 2022 season.
The 33-year-old outfielder has hit .283 with an .801 OPS in 219 games for the Sox with 2.2 bWAR.
Prior to that, Refsnyder hit .224 with a .618 OPS and minus-0.6 bWAR in 232 games for the Yankees, Blue Jays, Rangers, and Twins from 2015-21.
Chaim Bloom got that one right, and for only $3.75 million over three seasons. The Sox hold a $2 million option for Refsnyder for next season, which would seem like an easy call for the team.
But not so easy for Refsnyder, who isn’t sure he wants to play another season.
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “I’m undecided. I really don’t care about individual stats. I wanted to make a postseason run in Boston and experience that. I’ll take it step by step from there and decide what I do.”
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Refsnyder, who considered retirement before he signed with the Sox, would like to spend more time with his wife, Monica, and their two children.
His goal is work for a front office and learn the game from that vantage point. Refsnyder would be an excellent coach — if not a manager down the road — but would like to get off the road at this stage of his life.
“You can still make a big impact not being in a uniform and it’s a lot easier for your family and their schedule,” he said. “Who knows if I’ll have that opportunity? But I think it would be a joy to figure out how I can help young players.”
For now, Refsnyder is trying to help the Sox get into the playoffs. He has hit .298 with an .856 OPS this season and produced in the clutch throughout.
As he succeeded at the plate, Refsnyder also became a clubhouse leader and a player Alex Cora could trust to make sure his message was being received by the rest of the team.
Refsnyder believes his success at the plate goes back to a session with hitting coach Pete Fatse early in the 2022 season after learning he had been demoted to Triple A Worcester.
“I learned how to stay inside a pitch,” Refsnyder said. “To have success at this level you have to learn to compete against same-side pitching, and Peter helped me figure out how to stay inside a slider and tap into something facing lefthanders.
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“I had done that sporadically to that point and was able to harness a little bit. If it wasn’t for Pete and the rest of the hitting coaches that year, I’d probably be working for a front office at this point.”
Fatse said his goal at the time was to give Refsnyder a better base. He improved his balance at the plate with some one-handed swing drills.
“It was just my observations at the time,” Fatse said. “There were subtle things I thought we could do.”
Fatse had an ally in Matt Borgschulte, who is now co-hitting coach of the Orioles. He was Refsnyder’s Triple A hitting coach with the Twins in 2021. Fatse was Minnesota’s minor league hitting coordinator in 2019 and worked with Borgschulte that season.
“Matt had some thoughts on sequencing that he shared with me,” Fatse said. “When you have connections with other coaches it can help.”
Rob Refsnyder isn’t sure he wants to play another season. He would like to spend more time with his wife, Monica, and their two children. Kayla Bartkowski For The Boston
A few other observations on the Red Sox:
▪ Jarren Duran cost himself $8,000 and a bruised reputation because he took offense to a fan yelling, “You need a tennis racket.”
How much more will that cost?
Knucklehead fans are part of the equation for professional athletes, especially in places such as Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Succeeding in certain cities requires the ability to tune out the noise.
Many factors go into a team offering a contract extension, and the ability to handle a particular environment is one of them.
Duran is under team control through 2028, so this is not a pressing issue. But it will be part of the equation as the Sox determine how to proceed with him.
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▪ Meanwhile, how is it possible Duran was allowed to stand in front of a battery of television cameras on Monday to apologize for his comment while wearing a T-shirt with an expletive across the front?
Duran sees his shirt as a response to his mental health challenges, which is fine. But not everybody understands that.
Whether it was a coach, a staffer or even a teammate, somebody should have told Duran to change his shirt. MLB officials weren’t pleased. Beyond that, it left his apology looking inauthentic.
The Sox have become clumsy with such moments. Duran managed to wear a different shirt for interviews on Wednesday.
▪ Tyler O’Neill will be an interesting free agent. He’s 29 and a dangerous power hitter who’s an above-average defender in the outfield.
But he has played only 248 of a possible 446 games the last three seasons. As O’Neill gets older, it’s hard to imagine that will get better.
▪ The prospect hype machine went into overdrive this past week when Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Kyle Teel were promoted to Triple A Worcester.
But several pro scouts who have worked the Eastern League this season have said they believe Kristian Campbell is the best prospect in the organization.
The 22-year-old, a fourth-round pick from Georgia Tech in 2023, has played primarily second base and center field this season.
He had a 1.025 OPS through 93 minor league games this season along with 47 extra-base hits and 20 stolen bases.
▪ New Sox minor leaguer Rich Hill signed his first professional contract on July 10, 2002. His latest one came roughly 22 years and a month later.
Hill’s debut with the Cubs came in a game Greg Maddux started. Maddux is now 58 and last pitched in 2008.
▪ The 2025 spring training schedule does not include the onerous trip across Florida to play two games on the Atlantic coast. The only overnighter will be Feb. 27-28 at Detroit (Lakeland) and Philadelphia (Clearwater).
The Sox play Northeastern on Feb. 21, start Grapefruit League play on the 22nd at Tampa Bay, and wrap up on March 23 at home against the Twins. The regular season starts March 27 at Texas.
It seems likely the Sox will arrange another game or two somewhere rather than not play for three consecutive days before opening the season.
ETC.
Bochy remembers Lucchino fondly
Bruce Bochy managed the Padres from 1995-2006 and worked under the late Larry Lucchino for the first seven of those seasons.
With the Rangers in Boston this past week, Bochy was able to attend the service held at Fenway Park on Tuesday to celebrate Lucchino’s life.
“I was very appreciative of our time together. We had a lot of fun,” Bochy said. “I was glad I could pay my respects to the man who was there at the start of my [managerial] career.”
Of course it wasn’t always hearts and flowers when Lucchino was in charge.
“He would challenge you,” Bochy said. “It was in a healthy way, but we had our moments.”
Bochy recalls Trevor Hoffman blowing a save one night during his first full season as a closer after being obtained from the Marlins. Bochy returned to the team hotel with general manager Randy Smith and Lucchino was waiting.
“He says, ‘Just because Randy traded for him doesn’t mean you have to close games with him,’ right in front of Randy,” Bochy said. “I had a little snap because I was ticked off and said, ‘Well who the hell would you use?’
“It actually brought us closer together. You had to hold your ground with Larry.”
Sam Kennedy and Theo Epstein worked for the Padres during Bochy’s time in San Diego. He remembers Epstein running the radar gun behind home plate, which wasn’t a very glamorous assignment for a Yale graduate.
“We could have anybody doing that but Theo wanted to learn the game,” Bochy said.
Extra bases
The NBA and WNBA received a pile of free publicity at the Olympics as Team USA won gold in men’s and women’s basketball. Doesn’t MLB need to take advantage of that opportunity in Los Angeles in 2028? Playing prime-time games at Dodger Stadium with players representing the United States, Japan, South Korea, and other nations would advance the game in ways the World Baseball Classic never will. It would require some schedule machinations and maybe skipping the All-Star Game for a season, but it would be worth the effort . . . The White Sox cut season ticket prices by 10 percent for 2025. They probably should have made it 10 percent of what they are this season . . . The Pete Rose documentary on Max, “Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose,” is interesting in the sense that it’s amazing how Rose still doesn’t seem to understand that what he did was wrong. Or that lying about it for years didn’t endear him to the commissioner’s office. It also was telling that few teammates or players of that era came to his defense . . . Nate Eovaldi, who was scheduled to start for the Rangers on Saturday, has 264 innings the last two seasons, 36 shy of the 300 needed to trigger a $20 million vesting option for 2025. Eovaldi has a 3.68 ERA over 46 starts since leaving the Red Sox after the 2022 season . . . Yankees fans have turned on Alex Verdugo, who has a .623 OPS since May 1 and picks his spots when it comes to running hard . . . The Royals were 3-1 against the Cardinals this season, the first time they’ve won that season series since 2016. If the Cardinals have a second consecutive losing season, major changes could be coming. That hasn’t happened since 1994-95 . . . Aaron Judge reached 300 career home runs in 400 fewer at-bats than Babe Ruth . . . Christian Vazquez reached 10 years of major league service time this past week. Combine that with two World Series rings and $53.3 million in career earnings and that’s a very impressive career for a former ninth-round draft pick . . . The Diamondbacks (20-5) and Padres (19-4) went into the weekend with the two best records in the majors since the All-Star break. That put them two games behind the Dodgers . . . Twenty-six-year-old Blue Jays second baseman Will Wagner was 3 for 4 in his major league debut on Monday. His father, famed closer Billy Wagner, was 2 for 20 in his career . . . Hall of Famer Rod Carew became a US citizen earlier this month at 78. Carew was born in Panama and came to the US at 14 and was discovered playing in New York . . . With Jarren Duran having his streak snapped, only Willy Adames (Brewers), Nick Castellanos (Phillies), Marcell Ozuna (Braves), and Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals) have started every game this season . . . Mookie Betts has a weakness: ghosts. Betts stayed at an Airbnb in Milwaukee rather then the supposedly haunted Pfister Hotel when the Dodgers were in town. But Betts does take his kids on the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. “We don’t have to stay there,” he said. The Pfister once haunted the Red Sox. The GM Meetings were there in 2011 and that was when ownership decided to reopen the managerial search and consider Bobby Valentine . . . Jonny Miller of WBZ Radio made a $25,000 donation to the Jimmy Fund during the annual radio-telethon this past week. Jonny has stepped back from coverage of the Sox this season and we miss him at Fenway . . . Happy birthday to Yu Chang, who is 29. Chang played 50 games for the Red Sox from 2022-23, hitting .160. Oddly enough, 10 of his 20 hits were for extra bases, including six home runs. Chang is one of three Taiwanese players to appear in a game for the Red Sox. He’s now playing for the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him @PeteAbe.