1973 ALDS - Red Sox vs Athletics

Boston qualified for this 1973 playoff as a wildcard team of sorts. In the actual 1973 season, they posted a record of 89-73 which was good for the third-best record overall in the American League. This earned them a trip west to face the Oakland A's juggernaut which had captured two consecutive World Series championships.

Charlie Finley and the Swingin' A's

For Red Sox manager Eddie Kasko, 1973 was his fourth and final season guiding the Red Sox, and he had posted a winning record in each of those seasons. The '73 season was the team's best record under Kasko, a former major league shortstop who spent the bulk of his career with the Cincinnati Reds and enjoyed an all-star campaign in 1961. During that season, he batted .318 in the World Series, leading the Reds with seven hits during their five-game loss to a mighty New York Yankees squad. He wound up his career in Boston playing 58 games for the Red Sox in 1966. Overall as a Boston manager, he posted a 345-295 record, tying Joe Cronin for the fifth-best winning percentage (.539) among Red Sox managers who lasted at least 500 games.

Cepeda with GM Dick O'Connell 
and Haywood Sullivan looking on

Kasko had an interesting mix of core veterans along with an infusion of youth as the franchise was in transition to becoming an American League powerhouse in the mid to late 70s. At shortstop, 39-year-old Luis Aparicio was on the backside of his hall-of-fame career. He was a perennial gold glover in the early 1960s and continued to lend stability as a reliable defender in the Boston infield earning two all-star team berths as a Red Sox in 1971 and again in 1972. He landed a spot as a reserve in the '73 season. In the inaugural season of the designated hitter, Boston made another splash that season signing eleven-time all-star free agent Orlando Cepeda. The '73 season would be the "Baby Bull's" swan song as knee injuries hampered him throughout his final seven big league seasons. Cepeda registered his best numbers since his 1971 season in Atlanta with 28 bombs, 86 runs batted in, and a .289 batting average. The Boston offense was anchored by "Captain Carl" Yastrzemski who turned in his ninth consecutive all-star campaign with a .407 OBP and drove in 95 runs. Centerfielder Reggie Smith was in the top four in the American League in OBP and slugging percentage notching .398 and .515 clips respectively in his eighth and final season in Boston. Smith would be traded the following season to St. Louis for Rick Wise and Bernie Carbo. The youth movement featured a slick-fielding rocket-armed rookie in right field named Dwight Evans who was playing in his first full season in a Red Sox uniform and catcher Carlton Fisk who successfully followed up on his Rookie of the Year season in 1972 to make his second consecutive all-star team in '73. The 24-year-old native of Bellow Falls, Vermont cracked 26 homers and 71 RBI while backstopping a pitching staff led by Luis Tiant and Bill Lee. Lee and Tiant spent their first seasons as rotation regulars, and they each tossed over 270 innings and combined for 37 wins.

The upstart 1973 Boston Red Sox made their way to the ALCS in shocking style. After falling behind the powerhouse Oakland A's 2-0, the Sawx took the next three games of the ALDS to pull the rug out from under the actual '73 world champs. The comeback was even more improbable considering how badly Oakland lambasted Boston's top two starters. 

In the opener, the A's stomped all over Luis Tiant touching him up for 6 runs in 6 innings in an 8-0 romp. A's star right fielder Reggie Jackson led the way taking Tiant deep twice and driving in 5 runs. Vida Blue was simply too much for Red Sox hitters as he overwhelmed them with 13 strikeouts in 7.2 innings. Game Two was Lee's turn to succumb to Oakland's brawny bats as he also gave up 6 runs in only 5 innings, and the A's cruised to a 9-2 win. Catcher Ray Fosse was the offensive star going 2-3 with a double and 4 steaks.

Limping back to Fenway, all seemed lost, but no one told Boston Game Three starter, John Curtis. He twirled a complete game victory surrendering only one run in a 2-1 final. Orlando Cepeda broke a 1-1 tie in the third inning with a solo blast which proved to be the winning run. Carlton Fisk imposed his will on Oakland pitching in Game Four collecting three hits including a homer and drove in three runs in a 4-3 win. Marty Pattin was brilliant in 7.2 innings, scattering 8 hits and allowing only 2 runs to force a fifth and deciding game in Oakland. 

Tiant flipped the script from his first playoff encounter in Game One firing a complete game 6 hit effort as Boston capped their astonishing comeback with a 6-1 victory. Dwight Evans belted a three-run homer to lead the offensive attack with Reggie Smith chipping in with a home run and two RBI. As for Tiant's foe, Blue was unable to replicate his mastery over Boston hitters as they were relentless in his abbreviated 4.2 inning appearance strafing him with 7 hits and 6 runs.