Chris Sale Reveals Which Red Sox Teammate Sparked 2018 World Series Speech

The 2018 Boston Red Sox didn’t spend much time fighting from behind.

This team didn’t need any underdog story. The Red Sox were heavy favorites, which made for a surprise when they played back on their heels in Game 4 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Boston trailed into the late innings with the growing threat of the series entering a 2-2 tie.

Chris Sale gave a fateful speech in the dugout that shifted the tides of Game 4, though, that came with an urge from a fellow Red Sox pitcher.

“Brian Johnson came up to me and said, ‘Dude, I feel like somebody should say something, we’re flat right now,'” Sale shared on Bleacher Report’s “On Base With Mookie Betts” podcast with his former teammate. “… I forget exactly what moment it happened. The two wires in my head touched. The spark went and I just lose it.”

Johnson played four seasons for the Red Sox and threw a memorable complete-game shutout in 2017. It turns out his biggest impact in a Boston uniform was sparking the speech that turned the momentum back toward a championship for the Red Sox through the words of Sale.

Boston defeated the Dodgers in five games for the team’s fourth championship since 2004.