Among the 25 World Series champions since 2000, how did the 2004 Red Sox land in this spot?
This team is one of the great stories of this century, in the same way that the 2005 White Sox and 2016 Cubs are — organizations that have existed as long, if not longer, than Major League Baseball itself, and had gone without championships for almost the entirety of the league’s existence. Unlike the Chicago clubs, the Red Sox came close to winning the World Series, again (1967) and again (1975) and again (1986) since the advent of color television: even though their championship-less run was shorter than the Cubs’ own and more successful than that of the White Sox, it was painful in a more recent and more recognizable way.
Then the Yankees defeated the 2003 Red Sox in a heartbreaking — for Boston, anyway — Game 7 ALCS loss only added to the proceedings. The 2004 season was different for everyone involved. The 2003 lineup had already added Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar and David Ortiz to a group including Johnny Damon, Jason Varitek and Manny Ramirez, with Ortiz becoming a star after he won the everyday job as the designated hitter, but the Sox brought on more after the loss to New York. Boston added Curt Schilling over the offseason, giving them a co-ace to pair with Pedro Martinez. They added Mark Bellhorn to play second base, and he produced a .373 on-base percentage, while rookie Kevin Youkilis appeared in 72 games with a .367 mark. The Sox traded homegrown star Nomar Garciaparra midseason for shortstop Orlando Cabrera and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz to shore up their defense, which was the weak point on a team that could certainly hit.
While Pedro Martinez wasn’t at his best, his performance was still good enough for fourth in the AL Cy Young race. All told, 157 of Boston’s 162 starts were made by their five rotation regulars, and it was this depth combined with their overall talent that led them to 98 wins. Derek Lowe looked like the odd man out compared to Schilling, Martinez, Tim Wakefield and Bronson Arroyo, but he was more unlucky than anything and still racked up 33 starts and 182 innings. In the postseason, he was as valuable as anyone else: Lowe posted a 1.86 ERA over 19.1 innings and four games, including using his past closer experience to shut the Angels down in relief in extras in Game 3 of the ALDS. He started Game 4 against the Yankees, the first step toward Boston’s comeback from down 3-0 in the series, and was the winning pitcher in Game 7 after throwing six innings of 1-run ball in New York.
The Red Sox swept the Cardinals in the World Series, despite the immense talent of an opponent that was inarguably better than many of the actual champions this century has seen. The 2004 Red Sox don’t get extra credit for the narrative of their comeback or for breaking the curse of Babe Ruth, but taking down the star-studded ‘04 Cardinals? That’s an objective point in their favor.
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