Red Sox Parade 2018: World Series Celebration Predictions, Viewing Information

The Boston Red Sox will formally celebrate their 2018 World Series victory with their fans in a parade that begins at Fenway Park on Wednesday. 

After 86 years of misery, Red Sox fans have been spoiled with four world championships since 2004. Their victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers this year was nearly a sweep, with the National League champs needing 18 innings in Game 3 to earn their lone win of the series. 

With 119 combined victories between the regular season and playoffs, the 2018 Red Sox had the second-most wins in MLB history of any team that won a World Series. Only the 1998 New York Yankees (125) were better. 

Per Kevin Slane of Boston.com, the parade will start 11 a.m. ET Wednesday at Fenway Park and end on Staniford Street near the Government Center. 

Red Sox Parade Viewing Schedule

Date: Wednesday, Oct. 31

Network: MLB Network

Streaming: MLB.com

Predictions

Harry How/Getty Images

If someone had told you coming into this MLB season that David Price would end up being the biggest fan favorite during a Red Sox World Series parade, they would have been laughed out of the room. 

At this time last year, Price seemed like someone the Red Sox were stuck with but really had no fit with the organization. He was getting into heated arguments with the Boston media and told Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe he wouldn't be talking to the media on days he wasn't pitching. 

"I don't talk to the media every day like I did last year and I guess I get blown up for that," Price told Shaughnessy in June 2017. "But I was honest with everything they asked me last year, and I get blown up for that. So they did this to themselves. Talk to me on the day I pitch and that's it. There are no more personal interviews. There are no more asking me questions on a personal level. That's done."

Just 12 months later, Price became one of the biggest playoff heroes in Boston sports history:

Price tossed a combined 13 innings with six hits allowed and one earned run with 14 strikeouts in series-clinching wins over the Houston Astros and Dodgers. 

Given Price's standing with Sox fans when 2018 started and compared to where it is now, don't be surprised to see him receive the loudest ovation from the crowd if he stands up to speak. 

Every World Series winner also has the one player who becomes a cult icon for the rest of time. Boston fans have two they can pick from: Nathan Eovaldi and Steve Pearce. Both players were with the team for less than half of the season, but they left an indelible mark. 

Pearce has the extra hardware on his mantle after winning the World Series MVP award thanks to hitting three homers in the final two games against Los Angeles. 

Eovaldi, who was tentatively set to start Game 4, tossed six innings out of the bullpen in Game 3's 18-inning marathon. The right-hander took a hard-luck loss after giving up Max Muncy's walk-off homer, but all of his teammates showered his performance with praise. 

"Effortwise, I don't know, World Series, that was one of the best performances probably in the history of the World Series," Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters about Eovaldi after Game 3. "I told him how proud I was of him. The effort was amazing...probably one of the best, if not the best, game I've ever been a part of. The effort from both sides. What Nate did tonight, that was amazing. That was amazing."

It was an impressive outing on its own, but it looks even more incredible if you factor in that Eovaldi pitched one inning in each of the first two games against the Dodgers. He also recorded four outs in Game 5 against the Astros two days after giving up two runs in a six-inning outing. 

Both players will be beloved figures in Boston for the rest of their lives, but if you are picking one who will inspire a more rousing round of applause, Pearce gets the slight edge because of his family's connection to the franchise. 

Per WEEI's Rob Bradford, Pearce spent some of his formative years at the Red Sox's spring training facility watching the team after his family moved to Florida in 1996. 

"I was out there getting all the foul balls," Pearce said. "I would bring them on the bus. I went over to Winter Haven all the time. I used to have so many autographs but then we ended up playing with the balls."

MLB history will always remember star players like Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, Andrew Benintendi and Chris Sale. But the once-unheralded studs like Pearce and Eovaldi took this Red Sox team from a dominant regular-season group to a World Series title.