Everybody loves a parade: Sox to celebrate Saturday

BOSTON -- There will be one more major event for the World Series champion Red Sox before they hibernate for winter.

The World Series parade will launch from Fenway Park at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday, as the freshly-minted champions keep in line with a recent Boston tradition and gather into duck boats for a tour around what is sure to be a joyous city. Fans can watch a live stream on redsox.com and mlb.com starting at 9 a.m.

"The ducks will start at 10am at #Fenway, bring our champions down Boylston Street, and finish with the traditional splash in the Charles," Boston Mayor Tom Menino tweeted on Thursday.

The attendance throughout the baseball-crazed city of Boston will likely be in the millions. Fans going to the parade have the unique chance to be featured in an upcoming Instagram-built video project called #MyParade by tagging #MyParade in their Instagram pictures on parade day, and one lucky Instaphotographer could win an autographed Shane Victorino baseball.

Considering that the Red Sox finished in last place in 2012 and hardly anyone predicted they would win the World Series this year, fans are beaming with excitement about the accomplishments of this group.

In Wednesday's Game 6 of the World Series, the Red Sox finished off the Cardinals with a 6-1 victory, making Fenway Park the host of a World Series clincher for the first time since 1918.

It was the third World Series title for the Sox since 2004, the year they broke their 86-year championship "curse."

"Very importantly, we've reconnected with our fans," said Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino. "The bloom was off the rose, shall we say, after that 13-month period, September of '11 all the way through '12. The bloom was off the rose and we had to reboot and reconnect with our fan base. I think we were successful at doing that, acknowledging the problems we had and making sure they knew how much we wanted to win and how hard we would work to win."

That became clear with each month during the regular season, and with each round during a riveting postseason run.

From World Series Most Valuable Player David Ortiz to Jon Lester to Victorino to Jonny Gomes to Mike Napoli to Dustin Pedroia to Koji Uehara and many others, different players stepped up at different times.

"That's what makes this team special," Victorino said. "All year long, we all picked each other up. It's a fun bunch of guys."

And now, there will be one big celebration to commemorate the memorable ride.