Boston Red Sox: Top 10 postseason performances of the 21st century

The 2021 Boston Red Sox embarked on one of the more unexpected playoff runs in the MLB this season. While they were ultimately outdone by the eventual World Series champions, the Atlanta Braves, nobody expected that the Red Sox would battling the Houston Astros in the ALCS with a chance to claim a spot in the World Series when the season began. But that’s what ended up happening, and it was a tough defeat to swallow, even with the lack of expectations heading into the season.

After decades of futility and losing, the 21st century has been different for the Red Sox. They have pretty consistently been playoff contenders, and even when they haven’t been, they have done a remarkable job of turning things around quickly. After going 86 years without winning a World Series, they have already won four since the turn of the century.

As a result, Boston has had a lot of postseason baseball to watch in recent years, and with their winning pedigree comes some legendary performances. Even though they didn’t end up winning it all this season, we saw one of those legendary performances on a nightly basis everytime Kike Hernandez stepped up to the plate.

Hernandez was the hottest hitter on the planet for a stretch of the postseason, and much of their success should be credited to the versatile outfielder. But just how good were Hernandez’s postseason heroics compared some of the performances we have seen in years past? That’s what I have set out to find. Let’s take a look at the Boston Red Sox top 10 postseason performances of the 21st century, starting with one of the more unexpected contributors to the 2018 playoff run.