Red Sox Trying To Duplicate 2018 World Series Success With This Superstition

The 2018 Boston Red Sox were, simply put, one of the greatest baseball teams ever assembled.

With Most Valuable Player Mookie Betts spearheading the game's most relentless lineup and Chris Sale anchoring a deep and potent starting rotation, the Red Sox bulldozed their way to a franchise-record 108 wins in the regular season and an 11-3 record in October, capturing Boston's fourth World Series of the 21st century.

There were a lot of secrets behind that 2018 team's success that the 2025 Red Sox would love to duplicate. They couldn't bring back prime J.D. Martinez to bat cleanup, but there's one thing they evidently decided they could do.

According to a story from The Athletic's Jen McCaffrey, the Red Sox have brought back a new version of the "win wall," a collection of photos taken from each of the team's victories on the season. In 2018, it was 8-by-12 photos in manager Alex Cora's office; this year, it's Polaroid snapshots situated on wooden shelves inside the Red Sox clubhouse.

Cora also told McCaffrey that the inspiration to bring back the tradition came from Linda Henry, a Fenway Sports Group partner and the wife of principal owner John Henry.

“I was like, you know what, we should do it,” Cora said, per McCaffrey. “It’s a fun way to recognize the guys.”

Little traditions can become part of the fabric of a winning team's identity. And a winning team is exactly what the Red Sox are becoming, as they've emerged victorious in 22 of their last 27 home games to reach a season-best 12 games over .500.

Meanwhile, shortstop Trevor Story shouted out a key feature of the wall that's emblematic of why this team has turned things around.

“There’s a lot of different faces up there,” Story said, per McCaffrey. “I think that’s a sign of a good team. Someone is playing a different hero every single win. You get to relive it every time you walk by.”

There are 63 photos on that wall now, but the Red Sox hope to add many, many more over the next three months. If it worked once before, why not again?