The ex-Jay, Steve Pearce, named MVP while the Red Sox win the World Series

LOS ANGELES – All is well, everything is fine.

By the time old Fenway Park roars when Sweet Caroline is struck down in the eighth inning of each home game, the Boston Red Sox are all that and more.

Unquestionably the best baseball team in 2018, they are also World Series champions for the fourth time since 2004, after a decisive 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night.

With the former Blue Jays' fingerprints in plain sight until the triumphal end, the Red Sox have finished one of the most impressive series in history, requiring only five games to win the best run of seven.

The AHL champions had a lot of contributors in the standings at Dodger Stadium, but none was bigger than the Jays trapped Steve Pearce.

With two homesticks in Sunday's deciding match, Pearce was named World Series MVP, ending a torrid 24-hour period during which he helped put the dagger in front of the National League champion, the Dodgers.

A season that began on a dead end road with a Toronto team in full reconstruction ended at the top of the world of baseball while Pearce was playing a huge role for a group of heavyweights who dominated throughout the playoffs.

"You never know where the game will take you and have spent a lot of time in my career to be here," said Pearce, who was treated in June when the Jays officially started their fire sale. "It's the best feeling of my life. That's what you grow up to want to be part of this initiative. "

Just behind Pearce, the match 5 contender, David Price, left the Jays on behalf of the free agency after the 2015 season. Price was brilliant in his seven innings and over, allowing only three hits and a point.

It was his third post-season win and second in the World Series, and that comes from a guy who had not scored a "W" in his 11 previous starts in the playoffs.

Price could easily have been named MVP and some would say that it should be. At age 33, he admitted to having "found something" late in the ALCS and had been deadly ever since.

In his last three starts, the Nashville native tweaked the Astros in the fifth game to win the ALCS, eliminated the Dodgers in the second game in Boston and handcuffed the World Series here to Chavez Ravine. His EER over 13.2 innings of work in the series was a mere 1.98.

"It's special," said Price. "That's why I came to Boston. It is a city of champions and finally to say that I am part of it, I can not understand. It's very special.

"My confidence has never been altered despite the number of seasons I have been to the playoffs, even though I failed in October. I have always believed in myself and in my abilities. To be able to participate at this stage and in October to myself and my teammates, I know that I can do it now and that it is a good feeling to have. "

Although the World Series ended here in Los Angeles for the second year in a row, the scene was still electric and festive. Thousands of Red Sox admirers remained seated after the awards ceremony, serenading each Boston player as he returned to the visitors' pavilion.

It all started with Pearce, who scored the two-run score in the first run and added another one to eighth for three points in the last 10 innings of the series. After the first of these explosions, the Sox would never be left behind in the last baseball game of 2018.

Alex Cora, the director of the first year, continued to offer a range of end-to-end, beautifully directed contributors. There was a Mookie Betts circuit (ending a score of 14 to 14), and another of J.D. Martinez, the high-priced non-price acquisition. The five points of the fifth match went through the long ball.

The Sox were good everywhere they played 11-3 after the season but were particularly effective on the road, where they finished with a 7-1 mark.

With his effort of several home runs – after a brace and a three-point double the night before – Pearce finished the series with eight RBIs, the second total by a Red Sox player in World Series history.

And how about Price, who after years of failed playoffs was pure money in her last three starts, including the decisive jubilant.

Price pitched in the eighth inning, allowing only one point, a single against David Freese on the first. Leaving nothing to chance, Cora brought his ace Chris Sale to finish the Dodgers with a ninth inning 1-2-3.

"I'm very proud of him," said Price's Cora. "Many people abandoned him during the season, many after confronting him in New York (in the ALDS.)" But we knew that he was one of the best pitchers of the season. the big leagues and that he cares. He wants to win and finally, he has a win in the World Series. "

The Red Sox have been outstanding from the beginning to the end of 2018. A mark of 108 regular season wins has given way to a playoff series in which they have lost only one game per set.

Clearly superior to the Dodgers, the World Series was almost swept away, Boston's only defeat in a 3-2, 18-run marathon Friday night. The Red Sox narrowly missed that of the extras but rebounded with a big effort in the fourth match.

The Sox have won twice at Yankee Stadium to attend the Bronx Bombers 3-1 in the ALDS, and have finished the reigning Astros champion in Houston for a 4-1 win from ALCS .

"That's what this team represents, we work together," said Pearce. "And I think it's one of the best things that sums up our season: we are together."

The price is right

The relief of eventually winning in the post-season has given way to joy, but Price admits that the lack of success in the playoffs began to be felt.

"It was hard, absolutely," said the 33-year-old. "To answer that question at the spring training and day after day, again and again and every time we arrive in September, I hold all the cards now and that's nice.

"I can not tell you how good it is to keep this badet. You (the media) have it for a long time but you do not have it anymore. "

Of course, Price had the power to change deck at any time, whether it be Jay or in his first two playoff seasons with Boston.

That this is no longer a problem, Price gives some of it to Cora.

"Our relationship is really very unique," said Price. "It started the first week of January when we went out for a team lunch in Fort. Myers and set the tone at the first meeting.

"We are always in touch, even when we are off the field. So I repeated it many times, it's cool. "

First things first

The Pearce explosion not only propelled the Red Sox but is also an important statement for the team.

In the playoffs, Boston was 10-0 in the table, and in front of the Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw, it was a good way to set the tone.

"When Pearce hit the two-run circuit of the first run, it was huge," said Price. "To get that two-sleeve cushion even before you finish your first throw … I think that has inflated everyone."