Steve Pearce joined the Boston Red Sox four months into the season. Now, he's a hero in New England forever, as the journeyman first baseman was named 2018 World Series MVP following Boston's World Series victory on Sunday night.
Pearce joins Manny Ramirez (2004), Mike Lowell (2007), and David Ortiz (2013) as the only Red Sox players to have won the award.
He slashed .333/.500/1.167 over the five-game series, with three home runs, eight RBIs, and five runs scored. He clinched the MVP by hitting two homers in Game 5, including what turned out to be the series-winning two-run shot in the first inning off Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.
On Sunday, Pearce became the 10th player to hit multiple home runs in a World Series-clinching game and first since Kirk Gibson of the Tigers in 1984, according to Baseball-Reference. Pearce and Hall of Fame outfielder Harry Hooper (Game 5 in 1915) are the only Red Sox players to have done it.
"I've gone through a lot in my life," Pearce said, according to Sportsnet's Arash Madani. "I couldn't be more thankful."
The 35-year-old began 2018 with the Toronto Blue Jays and was acquired by Boston - his seventh major-league team, and fifth stop in the AL East - on June 28 for minor-league infielder Santiago Espinal. He put up a .901 OPS and hit seven homers in 50 regular-season games after the trade.
Pearce is only the second World Series MVP who was acquired by the winning team in a midseason trade, joining the New York Mets' Donn Clendenon in 1969, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
