The 2004 Red Sox
Down 3-0 to the Yankees, then history. In 2004 the Boston Red Sox became the first baseball team to win a postseason series after trailing 3-0, then won their first World Series in 86 years.
David Ortiz: Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0
A 19-8 low point
For most of the 20th century the Boston Red Sox lived in the shadow of the New York Yankees, and their fans spoke of a curse that began when Babe Ruth was sold to New York in 1920. In October 2004 the old rivals met in the American League Championship Series for the second straight year, and New York won the first three games, including a 19-8 rout at Fenway Park in Game 3.
No team in Major League Baseball history had ever come back from three games to none down in a best-of-seven series.
The pain was fresh. The Yankees had beaten Boston in seven games in the 2003 series, on a walk-off home run by Aaron Boone in the 11th inning of Game 7.
The steal and the walk-offs
In Game 4, Boston trailed 4-3 in the ninth inning against Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of all time. Kevin Millar walked, pinch runner Dave Roberts stole second base, and Bill Mueller singled him home to tie the game. In the 12th inning, David Ortiz hit a two-run walk-off home run.
The next night Game 5 went 14 innings, nearly six hours, and Ortiz won it again with a walk-off single. He was named series MVP.
Roberts' steal is one of the most famous stolen bases ever, because everyone in the ballpark knew he was going to run and he made it anyway.
The bloody sock and Game 7
In Game 6 in New York, pitcher Curt Schilling took the mound with an ankle tendon that doctors had stitched into place. Blood seeped through his white sock as he gave up just one run in seven innings, and Boston won 4-2.
In Game 7 Johnny Damon hit two home runs, including a grand slam, and the Red Sox won 10-3. They had won four straight games against their fiercest rival when everyone had counted them out.
Breaking the curse
Boston then swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, with Manny Ramirez named World Series MVP. It was the club's first championship since 1918. Millions of fans who had waited their whole lives celebrated in the streets. The 2004 Red Sox showed that a series is never over until a team wins four, a lesson every underdog still quotes.
The loose, long-haired clubhouse of Ortiz, Ramirez, Damon and catcher Jason Varitek called themselves the Idiots, a nickname fans adopted with pride.
- David Ortiz: Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Fenway Park: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0
Text written by Shining Champion.
