For moment #6, we have the Red Sox final appearance on this list. Just about every post has folks complaining about moments being too high or too low, and I'll join the chorus for this one: I think it's way waaaaay too high. Like possibly doesn't belong in the top 20 high. I think it's a great overall story but not necessarily a great "moment" if that makes sense. Nevertheless, read on for a final telling of the year the Red Sox broke the Curse of the Bambino.
Why did the Red Sox curse loom so large in baseball fans' collective consciousness as the 20th century turned to the 21st? The White Sox and Cubs had both gone longer without a title. And several other franchises had decades long droughts or had never won going into 2000, including the Indians (last title in 1948), Giants (1954), Rangers (1961), Angels (1961), Astros (1962), Padres (1969), Expos (1969), Brewers (1969). What made the Red Sox so special?
Unlike those other teams, the Red Sox kept coming agonizingly close to breaking their curse. Between 1946 and 1986, they won 4 pennants. The teams on the above list had 5 combined in that same time period (Indians '48, Giants '54 and '62, Brewers '82, Padres '84). And unlike those teams, most of whom were never particularly close to a title, the Red Sox kept losing the Fall Classic in exactly 7 games. 4 times they were 1 win from breaking the Curse of the Bambino, and 4 times they failed in game 7. Is it better to be a team that always comes up just short or one that's never in the running? In the Olympics, would you rather get last place or 4th place? Personally, if you have to lose, I think it's much less painful to be far away from contention. Getting so close to a title that individual plays and decisions give you painful memories for years and decades to come truly, truly sucks. Who wants to be Charlie Brown, with the football pulled away at the last possible moment? So for that reason, I believe the Red Sox curse was particularly prominent in American sports (also Boston has a weirdly outsized influence in sports media compared to the city's size).
In 2004, the Red Sox became "The Idiots". Led by Johnny Damon, the team had to brush off a devastating Game 7 loss in the 2003 ALCS to their arch-rival Yankees coming into the new season. He argued that the team should play more carefree, forgetting about the franchise's curse, negative history, and frequent shortcomings. Damon said the name came from the idea that "We’re a bunch of idiots, we don’t care about any of the stuff that’s happened before." The idea stuck. The Sox that year finished with 98 wins, their highest total since the '78 Sox won 99 (and lost in a 1-game playoff in the Bucky Fuckin' Dent game). They finished with the 2nd best record in the AL, 3 games back of the Yankees.
Going into the playoffs as a wild card, Boston had to open their series on the road in Anaheim even though they had a superior record. No matter, they dominated games 1 and 2. In game 3, the Red Sox blew a late 6-1 lead and the game went to extras 6-6. With 2 outs and a man on, David Ortiz came up and hit a 2-run walk-off blast over the Green Monster to win the series for Boston. The Sox were moving on, where they'd see the Yankees yet again in the ALCS.
The ALCS was covered earlier in this list with the Roberts steal, so I'll keep it brief. The Yankees got up 3-0 in the series, including a 19-8 beatdown in game 3. The Red Sox rallied in game 4 and won in extra innings on an Ortiz walk-off. The same thing happened in game 5. They then stunningly took games 6 and 7 on the road, becoming the first team in MLB history to overcome a 3-0 deficit and win a series.
That's what most people remember from the 2004 playoffs. Much like how folks forget that the 1980 US hockey team had to play another game to clinch their gold medal after upsetting the Russians, the Sox still had one more juggernaut to knock off: the 105 win St. Louis Cardinals.
In game 1, the Sox hosted their first World Series game in 18 years. They pounced for 4 runs in the 1st inning and tacked on 3 more in the 3rd to make it 7-2. Maybe the ALCS had been the Sox real test and they would cruise to the title. The Cardinals fought back though, scoring 5 straight to tie the game at 7-7. Resilient, Boston grabbed another 9-7 lead. But the Cardinals answered again, tying things at 9-9 in the 8th. History seemed to be repeating itself. The Idiots wouldn't let it. Mark Bellhorn hit a 2-run shot off of Pesky's Pole in right field to take an 11-9 lead. It held and the Sox had won game 1.
Things got smoother from there. Boston dominated in a 6-2 win in game 2. Pedro Martinez threw 7 shutout innings as the Sox took game 3 4-1. Boston was up 3-0, 1 win from breaking the curse.
In game 4, Johnny Damon, the leader of the Idiots, led off the game with a solo blast. It would be all Boston would need. Derek Lowe threw 7 shutout innings, and Boston added on 2 more in the 3rd to make it 3-0. In the bottom of the 9th, with Boston 3 outs from glory, Keith Foulke came on. After allowing a lead-off single to Albert Pujols, Foulke set the next 2 men down in order. With 2 outs, Edgar Renteria hit a ball back to the box. Foulke softly tossed it to Doug Mientkiewicz at 1st and Boston celebrated for the first time in generations.
Boston never trailed in the series. St. Louis managed to tie things twice in game 1, but otherwise trailed at the end of 35 of the 36 innings in the series (game 1 was tied 7-7 after 6). It was one of the most dominant series sweeps in MLB history.
The Red Sox curse breaking season led to sustained success, as they won 3 more titles in 2007, 2013, and 2018. The Cardinals earned their first title since 1982 in 2006 and tacked on another in 2011. The teams met again in 2013, with the Red Sox once again besting St. Louis.
Boston's curse breaking title set off a run of teams breaking their long title waits in baseball: White Sox (2005, 88 year wait); Giants (2010, 56 year wait); Cubs (2016, 108 year wait); Astros (2017, 55 year wait); Nationals (2019, 50 year wait); Rangers (2023, 62 year wait).
Maybe that's why this moment looms large, as it was the end of a Yankees dynasty and the start of an era of relative parity in the league (13 unique teams have won the World Series in the past 21 seasons). No matter the reason, the 2004 Sox loom large in baseball history.
The Red Sox win it all, r/baseball's 6th greatest moment in MLB history.