We’re going to try something a little bit different today. With Boston out of the playoffs and anniversaries of awesome Red Sox postseason moments popping up on a daily basis during this stretch of the calendar, it got me thinking about some of the greatest games in franchise history.
Specifically, I started a little exercise in my head highlighting these magical moments, and by the end of it, I wanted to play the game with other Red Sox fans and the OTM community. The task is simple: Create the best
Red Sox 7-Game series using the franchise’s rich catalog of postseason roller coaster rides. In doing so, you have just two limitations:
- Each selection within your best 7-Game series must correspond to the actual game it was during the series played. (So you can’t use a Game 5 and place it at Game 1 or Game 7 or whatever.)
- You can only use one game per series, meaning you have to dip into seven different series to create the full list. (This means you’re going to have to make some hard decisions when it comes to the 2004 ALCS.)
So with that, I’ll get everybody started with my list.
Game 1: 2004 World Series
You can actually go a few different ways here. For a while I thought the one-game Wild Card win over the Yankees in 2021 was the answer since that’s the only Game 1 that’s winner-take-all and it came against the detestable Yankees. But it was also so early in the postseason, was a good — not great — game, and it has some surprisingly stiff competition.
I also almost went with Game 1 of the 2018 World Series (great game and an easy way to lead off with the most dominant Red Sox team of all time). But I landed on Game 1 of the 2004 World Series because even 22 years later, I can still remember exactly how I felt watching every inning of that surreal experience. The euphoria at the start of the game coming off the ALCS comeback, the wild twists and turns, the errors, and of course the sound of the Mark Bellhorn home run hitting Pesky’s Pole.
There’s also been some extra legend added to this game and moment in recent years now that we know the ESPN crew accidentally pulled down the pole and moved it just hours before the World Series got underway. What are the odds the decisive home not only ends up near, but off Pesky’s Pole in the aftermath? Just another incredible tidbit from a time in Red Sox history full of them.
Game 2: 2013 ALCS
For me, the 2013 ALCS was the easiest selection on the whole list. I don’t think there’s any other Game 2 in MLB history that so completely and decisively swung a best-of-7 series. That series felt like it was headed down a one way street before the Ortiz grand slam, and then it morphed it into a different universe. Add on the indelible image of Tori Hunter flipping over the bullpen wall in front of the cop celebrating, and you have a photo that will grace the walls of Boston bars forever. Special game, special player, special moment, special series, special season!
Game 3: 2003 ALDS
Here’s where it gets tricky, but I went with Game 3 of the 2003 ALDS for multiple reasons. First off, it was just peak bizarre baseball, which I love! But also, I’d argue this game was the catalyst of the entire epic saga that was the 2003-2004 postseason. If the Red Sox lose, they get swept by the A’s, the Red Sox vs. Yankees ALCS never happens, the Pedro/Grady Little controversy in Game 7 never happens, and that entire core is less battle tested and probably constructed a little bit different when the face the Yankees the following year.
It also had some of my favorite dumb baseball moments of all time with Eric Burns shoving Jason Varitek and Miguel Tejada stopping on the basepaths when Oakland had the Red Sox on the ropes.
Oh, and then it went 11 innings and featured a Trot Nixon walk-0ff. Man, the entire 2003 postseason was just nuts!
Game 4: 2004 ALCS
The 2004 ALCS. This one doesn’t need an introduction or video (we’ve all seen the highlights a million times). It’s the ultimate dividing line between the past and the present. I almost went off sequence here and wanted to save my 2004 ALCS bullet for the next game, but I couldn’t because …
Game 5: 2008 ALCS
This is by far the toughest pick! Despite my last answer, I’d actually argue that Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS is the better game from that series (and I’ve done so here at Over The Monster before). But here’s the thing: There is no team in baseball — and for that matter all of sports — that has a more impressive catalog of stunning Game 5s than the Boston Red Sox. It’s not even close!
There’s the Dave Henderson home run in 1986. There’s Pedro coming out of the bullpen against Cleveland in 1999. There’s the Andrew Benintendi catch to close out the 2018 ALCS. There’s the nail biting ninth inning of Game 5 of the 1967 World Series that nearly sparked a 3-1 comeback. There’s Derek Lowe stranding the bases loaded to end the 2003 ALDS. There’s even this beauty to close out the 1915 World Series in which the Sox rallied down 4-2 in the eighth.
But for this exercise, I’m going with the seven run comeback in Game 5 of the 2008 ALCS.
The Sox failing to close out this series in Game 7 is one of the biggest missed opportunities in franchise history! Game 5 very nearly set off a dynasty with what could have been the franchise’s ultimate comeback game, and it was the eighth straight Red Sox win in the LCS when facing elimination (appropriately dating by Game 4 of the 2004 series against the Yankees). Mathematically, Boston’s odds to win the 2008 ALCS were lower in the seventh inning of Game 5 of this series than they were in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, and they took that all the way to an early lead in Game 7.
It probably won’t be the most popular answer among the masses because of how the series turned out, but I’m obsessed with what this game could have set off if Game 7 went differently.
Game 6: 1975 World Series
Even after all these years and four championships, it’s still Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. It’s a damn near perfect baseball game!
The Bernie Carbo home run fueled the dramatic eighth inning comeback, the Red Sox blew a golden bases loaded, nobody out opportunity to win it in the ninth, the Dwight Evans catch in right field in the 11th, Hall of Famers all over the place, and of course the iconic Carton Fisk home run where he waves it fair off the pole.
For decades, this was the best thing Red Sox fans had. It’s the closest many people ever came to tasting a championship, and it was savored so much by the region it was frequently mentioned in movies, books, and other literature for years.
Game 7: ???
And here’s where we get to the title of the article. For a franchise blessed with so much rich postseason history, the Red Sox don’t have a signature Game 7 win. Take your time. Dig. It’s not out there.
They have plenty of signature Game 7 losses, but all of their modern Game 7 wins tend to be exclamation points on other more iconic games from earlier in the series. (The 2004 ALCS is a perfect example of this.)
Oddly, they do have an easy pick for a Game 8. Back in the 1912 World Series, Game 2 ended in a tie, so Game 8 became the decisive, winner-take-all contest, and it ended up going to extra innings. The Sox fell behind 2-1 in the top of the tenth, only to score two in the bottom of the inning following an extremely costly error by Giants’ centerfielder Fred Snodgrass. What a way to close out Fenway Park’s inaugural season!
But anyway, back to the matter at hand. I’m going Game 7 of the 2007 ALCS to complete the comeback vs. Cleveland. It was more of a party than a great baseball game, but again, where else do you go with this exercise? (It also holds a special place in my heart personally.)
Here’s the most fun takeaway of this exercise for me: We have yet to see the best Game 7 in Red Sox franchise history. For all the records, all the heroics, and all the rhetoric about how we’ll never experience the same highs as 2004 again, any modern Red Sox team has a chance to go one last place no other Red Sox team has gone before. Make a deep postseason run and end it with an unforgettable exclamation point of a Game 7.
When it happens, that group will go right up there with all the other magical seasons we touched on throughout this list. In other words, there’s still new places to explore out there, and maybe — just maybe — our young stars will light the way.
So with that, I turn it over to you. What’s your best 7-Game Red Sox series?
