2008 American League Championship Series
Team (Wins) Manager(s) Season Tampa Bay Rays (4) Joe Maddon 97–65, .599, GA: 2 Boston Red Sox (3) Terry Francona 95–67, .586, GB: 2
Dates	October 10–19
MVP	Matt Garza (Tampa Bay)
Umpires	Tim McClelland (crew chief),Sam Holbrook,Brian O'Nora,Brian Gorman,Alfonso Márquez,Derryl Cousins,Ángel Hernández (Game 7 replacement for Cousins)
Broadcast
Television	TBS MLB International
TV announcers	Chip Caray,Ron Darling,Buck Martinez andCraig Sager (TBS) Dave O'Brien,Rick Sutcliffe (MLB International)
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Jon Miller andJoe Morgan
ALDS	Boston Red Sox overLos Angeles Angels of Anaheim (3–1) Tampa Bay Rays overChicago White Sox (3–1)
← 2007 ALCS 2009 →

The2008American League Championship Series (ALCS), the second round of theAmerican League side inMajor League Baseball's2008 postseason, was abest-of-seven series matching the two winners of theAmerican League Division Series. TheAL East Division champion and second-seededTampa Bay Rays, who had defeated the Chicago White Sox in the ALDS, were paired with the wild-card and defending world championBoston Red Sox, who had defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, in the ALDS. Tampa Bay held the home field advantage.

The Rays won the series four games to three, becoming the first team since the1992 Atlanta Braves to win a seventh game after blowing a 3–1 lead. The series began atTropicana Field inSt. Petersburg, Florida, on Friday, October 10, 2008, and was broadcast onTBS. Game 7 was played on Sunday, October 19.^[1] This was the Rays' first appearance in the ALCS while the Red Sox were making their fourth appearance in the last six seasons and ninth overall. The two teams hit a combined 26 home runs—a record for league championship series.^[2]

The Rays would go on to lose theWorld Series to thePhiladelphia Phillies in five games.

In spring training before the start of the 2008 season,James Shields joked that the goal for the newly branded Rays (they had just changed their name from the Devil Rays) was to not lose 100 games — after narrowly avoiding this mark in2007 with 96 losses. Veteran and former World Series championCliff Floyd, who had signed with the team in the off-season at age 35, contemplated retirement after the first few days of spring training. “You’re wondering, ‘What the hell are you doing?'”, said Floyd in 2018 at the team’s ten year-anniversary. “Why are you signing with this team? What makes you think this is the right move?”^[3] With a payroll of only $43.8 million, the second lowest in the majors, Tampa Bay entered the season facing 125-1 odds to win the AL pennant and 300-1 odds to win the World Series. But the franchise that never had finished above .500 or reached the postseason in their brief 11-year history improbably won the AL East over theNew York Yankees ($209 million payroll) andBoston Red Sox ($133.4 million).^[4] To get to their first ALCS appearance in franchise history, they beat the White Sox in four games in theALDS.

Finishing 2nd in the American League East was the defending champions Boston Red Sox. After being a season-long running distraction in the clubhouse,^[5] GMTheo Epstein traded superstarManny Ramirez to the Dodgers in a blockbuster three-way deal. In the deal, the Red Sox acquired outfielderJason Bay and minor league infielderJosh Wilson, while the Pittsburgh Pirates received infielderAndy LaRoche and pitching prospectBryan Morris from the Dodgers and outfielderBrandon Moss and pitcherCraig Hansen from the Red Sox. The acquisition of Jason Bay proved to be a wake-up call for the defending champs, as they finished with a 34-19 record after the trade and qualified for the postseason as a wild card. In the ALDS, they upset the Angels in four games.

Tampa Bay won the series, 4–3.

Boston won a pitcher's duel on a sacrifice fly byJed Lowrie in the fifth offJames Shields and an RBI double byKevin Youkilis in the eighth offJ. P. Howell with the run charged to Shields. Starter Daisuke Matsuzaka held the Rays hitless untilCarl Crawford singled to lead off the seventh inning. He allowed four singles and five walks in seven innings while striking out nine. Jonathan Papelbon pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth career ALCS save.

The Rays won a hard-hitting, marathon game that lasted 5 hours and 27 minutes,^[13] and featured seven home runs, which broke theALCS record and tied the all-timeLCS record.^[14] StartersScott Kazmir andJosh Beckett were both ineffective, giving up six of those home runs and lasting under five innings.

In the top of the first,David Ortiz walked andKevin Youkilis singled with two outs before both scored onJason Bay's double, but in the bottom of the inning,Carlos Pena doubled with two outs beforeEvan Longoria's home run tied the game.Dustin Pedroia's leadoff home run in the third put the Red Sox up 3−2, but in the bottom of the inning,B. J. Upton's one-out home run tied the game again, then Longoria doubled with two outs before scoring onCarl Crawford's single to put the Rays up 4–3.Cliff Floyd's leadoff home run in the fourth extended the Rays' lead to 5–3, but home runs by Pedroia and Youkilis in the fifth tied the game.Grant Balfour relieved Kazmir and allowed a home run to Bay to put the Red Sox up 6–5. In the bottom of the inning, Upton walked without out, stole second and scored on Pena's single to tie the game. Longoria's RBI double then put the Rays up 7–6.Javier Lopez relieved Beckett and allowed an RBI single to Crawford. Bay's single in the seventh offChad Bradford scored Pedroia, who walked offJ. P. Howell with one out earlier that inning. A wild pitch byDan Wheeler in the eighth allowed Pedroia, who singled to lead off the inning off Bradford, to score and tie the game, forcing extra innings. In the bottom of the 11th,Mike Timlin walked three to load the bases before a sacrifice fly by Upton allowedFernando Perez to score the winning run. The Rays' 2007 #1draft pick,David Price, was credited with the win.

The Rays hit Boston aceJon Lester and relieverPaul Byrd hard in Game 3, moving ahead two games to one. The Rays scored their first run in the second onDioner Navarro's RBI groundout with runners on second and third. Next inning,B. J. Upton hit a towering three-run homer over the Green Monster to make it 4–0.Evan Longoria followed with a home run later in the inning to make it 5–0. Tampa Bay starterMatt Garza pitched brilliantly against the Red Sox lineup. The 3–4–5 hitters went 0–9 against him and the Red Sox's only run came in the seventh onJacoby Ellsbury's sacrifice fly offJ. P. Howell that scoredJason Varitek, who walked off Garza to lead off the inning. In the eighth, New England nativeRocco Baldelli hit a three-run homer of his own, also over the Green Monster, off Byrd to seal the win.Carlos Peña homered in the ninth, also off Byrd to extend his postseason success.

The Rays routed the defending World Champions for the second straight night with a 13–4 win in Boston.Carlos Peña got it going in the first with a two-run homer off starterTim Wakefield.Evan Longoria followed it up with his third homer of the series and fifth in the playoffs.Willy Aybar hit his first home run of the postseason in the third when he sent one over the Green Monster for a two-run homer.Kevin Cash's leadoff home run in the third off Rays starterAndy Sonnanstine put the Red Sox on the board. In the fifth,Carl Crawford doubled with one out in the fifth offJustin Masterson and scored on Aybar's single. Next inning,Jason Bartlett tripled with one out offManny Delcarmen.

AfterAkinori Iwamura walked,B. J. Upton's RBI single made it 7–1 Rays. Delcarmen walked two to load the bases and force in another run before being relieved byJavier Lopez, who allowed back-to-back RBI singles to Crawford and Aybar, then an RBI groundout to Navarro. In the bottom of the inning,David Ortiz hit a leadoff triple and scored onKevin Youkilis's groundout. In the eighth,Mike Timlin walked Pena to lead off the inning, then allowed an RBI triple to Crawford and RBI single to Aybar. In the bottom of the inning,Jed Lowrie hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a groundout and scored onDustin Pedroia's single.Trever Miller relieved Sonnastine and allowed a two-out RBI double to Youkilis.Edwin Jackson pitched a scoreless ninth as the Rays were one win away from the World Series.Carl Crawford went 5-for-5 with two stolen bases in the game.

Tampa Bay jumped out to an early lead whenB. J. Upton hit a two-run home run with no one out in the first inning.Carlos Peña andEvan Longoria increased the lead to 5–0 with back-to-back home runs in the third, the former a two-run shot. With his home run, Longoria tiedCarlos Beltrán's record for consecutive postseason games with a home run.Daisuke Matsuzaka allowed no more runs after that through six innings, but Boston was unable to score againstScott Kazmir. In the top of the seventh,Jonathan Papelbon came on afterManny Delcarmen walked the only two batters he faced. The inherited runners scored on an Upton double, making it 7–0.

In the bottom of the seventh, with two outs and runners on first and third,Dustin Pedroia hit an RBI single offGrant Balfour to finally get the Red Sox on the board. The next batter,David Ortiz, hit a three-run home run to right field, ending a postseason home run drought of 61 at-bats. In the eighth inning,J. D. Drew hit a two-run homer to right field offDan Wheeler. Later,Coco Crisp hit an RBI single to right field to scoreMark Kotsay from second to tie the game. In the ninth inning, afterJ. P. Howell retired the first two Boston batters,Kevin Youkilis hit a ground ball to third base. Longoria scooped the ball, but his throw was off, and bounced into the stands, allowing Youkilis to reach second. After an intentional walk toJason Bay, Drew hit a single over the head of right fielderGabe Gross to win the game.

The comeback of the Red Sox from a seven-run deficit is the second-biggest in postseason history, the largest sinceGame 4 of the 1929 World Series,^[15] and the largest ever for a team on the brink of elimination.

Josh Beckett pitched five innings and allowed two solo home runs, toB. J. Upton in the first andJason Bartlett in the fifth, to record the win. Boston scored on home runs fromKevin Youkilis in the second andJason Varitek (his first series hit) in the sixth, a Youkilis groundout in the third, and a single byDavid Ortiz after Bartlett's throwing error extended the sixth inning.

UmpireDerryl Cousins was struck by a foul ball from Varitek in the second inning, leaving the game with a bruised collarbone after the third. The game was delayed for 15 minutes while Cousins was X-rayed by Rays trainerRon Porterfield; the game resumed with a five-man umpiring crew.

TBS television missed most of the game's first inning, with viewers getting a rerun ofThe Steve Harvey Show instead. The network picked up the game just prior to the last out in the bottom of the first, with announcer Chip Caray apologizing to viewers for "technical difficulties". TBS acknowledged there was a problem with one of their routers used in the broadcast transmission of the relay of the telecast from Atlanta.^[16][17] When facing elimination,Terry Francona's Red Sox have won nine of ten postseason games.^[18]

The Rays shook off the ghosts of Red Sox past to win their first American League pennant, winning a tight game 3–1.Dustin Pedroia got the Red Sox off to a good start with a one-out homer in the first offMatt Garza, but Garza settled in and delivered an MVP performance. Tampa Bay tied the game in the fourth with anEvan Longoria RBI double, then went ahead in the fifth on an RBI single byRocco Baldelli. In the seventh,Willy Aybar added insurance with a home run to lead off. In the eighth,David Price, who made his major league debut a little over a month before came on to pitch toJ. D. Drew with the bases loaded and struck him out on achecked swing. In the ninth, Price recorded his first Major League save by gettingJed Lowrie to ground into aforce play toAkinori Iwamura. With the win, the Rays became the second team to go to the World Series after posting the worst record the year before, joining the1991 Atlanta Braves, who went on to lose to theMinnesota Twins.^[19]

2008 ALCS(4–3):Tampa Bay Rays overBoston Red Sox

After being plagued by futility as the Devil Rays, amassing just a .399 winning percentage over their brief first 11 years as a franchise, the “worst-to-first” 2008 Rays set a new standard of success for baseball in Tampa Bay. Led by general managerAndrew Freidman and managerJoe Maddon, the Rays became one of the more innovative teams in baseball. From 2010–2013, the Rays won at least 90 games each season, a remarkable feat for a team with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, particularly in a division with the Yankees and Red Sox. Even after Freidman and Maddon left after the2014 season, the Rays success continued.^[20][21] The Rays tied the franchise record in wins in2019, won the pennant in2020 for the first time since 2008, and surpassed the franchise record for wins and won 100 games in2021. Over the years, the Rays became a factory for future general manager/lead executives. In 2021, lead executives of three of the final four teams in the 2021 postseason all received their start in MLB in Tampa Bay.^[22]

In 2011, The Red Sox became the first team in the history of Major League Baseball to have a nine-game lead in September and fail to make the postseason that season, thanks to their 7-20 record in the final month of the regular season. Their collapse allowed the Rays to sneak past them to win a wild card spot.^[23] The Red Sox avenged their 2011 collapse and 2008 ALCS series loss to the Rays in the2013 American League Division Series, beating Tampa Bay in four games. The Red Sox would go on to win theWorld Series in 2013, their third championship in nine seasons. The Red Sox would later go on to beat the Rays in the2021 American League Division Series in four games, as well.

Kevin Cash, a back-up catcher in 2008 for the Red Sox, has been the Tampa Bay Rays manager since 2018, winning themanager of the year in 2020. Cash was also a part-time catcher for Tampa Bay in2005.

• 2008 ALCS at Baseball Reference

• 2008 Major League Baseball season
• American League Championship Series
• Tampa Bay Rays postseason
• Boston Red Sox postseason
• 2008 in sports in Florida
• 2008 in sports in Massachusetts
• 2008 in Boston
• Baseball competitions in Boston
• 21st century in St. Petersburg, Florida
• October 2008 sports events in the United States
• Baseball competitions in St. Petersburg, Florida

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