2004 World Series
The 2004 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's 2004 season. The 100th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League champion Boston Red Sox and the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. The series was played from October 23 to 27, 2004, at Fenway Park and Busch Memorial Stadium. The Red Sox swept the Cardinals in four games, earning their first title since 1918 and ending the Curse of the Bambino.
The Cardinals earned their berth into the playoffs by winning the NL Central division title, and had the best win–loss record in the NL. The Red Sox won the AL wild card to earn theirs. The Cardinals reached the World Series by defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best-of-five NL Division Series and the Houston Astros in the best-of-seven NL Championship Series. The Red Sox defeated the Anaheim Angels in the AL Division Series. After trailing three games to none to the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series, the Red Sox came back to win the series, advancing to their first World Series since. The Cardinals made their first appearance in the World Series since. With the New England Patriots winning Super Bowl XXXVIII, the World Series victory made Boston the first city to have Super Bowl and World Series championship teams in the same year since Pittsburgh in 1979. The Red Sox became the third straight wild card team to win the World Series; the Anaheim Angels won in 2002 and the Florida Marlins won in 2003.
The Red Sox had home-field advantage in the World Series by virtue of the AL winning the 2004 All-Star Game. In game one, Mark Bellhorn helped the Red Sox win with a go-ahead home run in the 8th, while starter Curt Schilling led the team to a game two victory by pitching six innings and allowing just one run. The Red Sox won the first two games despite committing four errors in each. The Red Sox won game three, aided by seven shutout innings by Pedro Martínez. A leadoff home run by Johnny Damon in the first inning gave the Sox a lead they never relinquished in game four for the Red Sox to secure the series. The Cardinals did not lead in any of the games in the series; the sixth and eighth innings of the first game was the only time that the two teams were tied. Manny Ramírez was named the series' Most Valuable Player.
The 2004 World Series was broadcast on Fox, and watched by an average of just under 25.5 million viewers. While not a particularly competitive series, the series is ranked as one of the most memorable World Series of all time, and one of the most iconic professional sports moments from the 2000s due to its historical significance for Boston. The Red Sox and Cardinals faced each other again in the 2013 World Series, which the Red Sox also won, this time 4 games to 2.
Route to the series
This was the ninth meeting between teams from Boston and St. Louis for a major professional sports championship. This previously happened in two World Series, four NBA Finals, Super Bowl XXXVI two years prior, and the 1970 Stanley Cup Final. It was also the third World Series between the Red Sox and Cardinals. The previous two meetings in 1946 and 1967 were both won by the Cardinals in seven games.Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox had lost in the previous season's ALCS against the New York Yankees. The loss was mainly blamed on the decision by then-manager Grady Little to keep starting pitcher Pedro Martínez in the game in the 8th inning of Game 7. The Yankees won the game and series after Aaron Boone hit a walk-off home run off Tim Wakefield. Little was fired two weeks later.During the off-season, the Red Sox hired Terry Francona as their new manager. They also signed Keith Foulke as their closer and traded for Curt Schilling as a starting pitcher. The Red Sox played two particularly notable games against the Yankees during the regular season. A game on July 1, in which they came back from a 3-run deficit to force extra innings, is best remembered for an incident in the 12th inning, when Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter made a catch on the run before hurling himself head-first into the stands. The Yankees won the game in the next inning to take an 8-game lead in the American League East. In the 3rd inning of a game on July 24, Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo hit Yankees batter Alex Rodriguez with one of his pitches. As Rodriguez walked towards first base, he began shouting profanities at Arroyo. Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek positioned himself between the two players. After a brief argument, Varitek pushed his glove into Rodriguez' face, causing a bench-clearing brawl. The Red Sox eventually won the game thanks to a home run by Bill Mueller in the 9th inning. On July 31, the Red Sox traded shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs after he had spent eight years with the team. They acquired shortstop Orlando Cabrera and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz in this trade. They won the wild card to earn a place in the post-season for the second year in a row.
In the divisional round of the playoffs, the Red Sox faced the second-seeded Anaheim Angels in a best-of-five series. They won Game 1 largely thanks to a 7-run 4th inning, and went on to sweep the series. In the 7th inning of Game 3, with the Red Sox leading by 4, Vladimir Guerrero tied the game for the Angels with a grand slam. However, David Ortiz won the series with a game-winning home run in the 10th. In the American League Championship Series, the Red Sox lost the first three games against the top-seeded New York Yankees, including a 19–8 drubbing in Game 3, and were trailing 4–3 in Game 4 when they began the 9th inning. Kevin Millar was walked by Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. Dave Roberts then came into the game to pinch run for Millar and stole second base. Mueller then singled to enable him to tie the game. Another game-winning home run by Ortiz won the game 6–4 for the Red Sox in the 12th inning. Ortiz' single in the 14th inning of Game 5 scored the winning run for the Red Sox, in what was, then, the longest post-season game in baseball history. Despite having a dislocated ankle tendon, Schilling started Game 6 for the Red Sox. He pitched for seven innings, and allowed just one run, during which time his sock became soaked in blood. In the eighth inning, Yankees third baseman Rodriguez slapped a ball out of pitcher Arroyo's hand, allowing the Yankees to score a run. However, after a discussion the umpires called Rodriguez out for interference and canceled the run. Fans then threw debris onto the field in protest and the game was stopped for ten minutes. The Red Sox won the game 4–2 and became the first baseball team to ever force a Game 7 after having been down 3 games to none. A 10–3 win in Game 7 brought the Red Sox to the World Series for the first time in 18 years.
St. Louis Cardinals
Having failed to make the playoffs the season before, and with their division rivals expected to be strong, the Cardinals were generally expected to finish 3rd in the National League Central. However, strong offensive seasons from Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, and Jim Edmonds—during which they each hit more than 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in —helped them to lead the league in runs scored. They also allowed the fewest runs of any team in the league. Four of their starters recorded at least 15 wins and closer Jason Isringhausen recorded a league-best 47 saves. They added outfielder Larry Walker in August and finished the regular season with the best win–loss record in the league at 105-57.The top-seeded Cardinals faced the #3 seed Los Angeles Dodgers in the divisional round of the playoffs. Five home runs in Game 1 and no runs allowed by the bullpen in Game 2 helped the Cardinals to win the first two games. A complete game by Dodgers pitcher José Lima enabled the Dodgers to force a Game 4, during which a home run by Pujols won the series for the Cardinals. In the National League Championship Series, the Cardinals faced the #4 seed Houston Astros and won the first two games in St. Louis. However, the Astros tied the series in the next two games in Houston, before a combined one-hitter by Astros pitchers Brandon Backe and Brad Lidge gave them the series lead. An RBI single by Jeff Bagwell in the 9th inning of Game 6 tied the game and forced extra innings. In the 12th, Edmonds won the game for the Cardinals with a walk-off home run. Trailing in the sixth inning of Game 7, a game-tying RBI double by Albert Pujols followed by a Scott Rolen two-run home run and then an RBI single by Larry Walker in the 8th inning helped the Cardinals to a 5–2 win and their first World Series berth in 17 years.
By reaching the World Series with the Cardinals, Tony La Russa became the sixth manager to win pennants in both leagues. This was after La Russa had managed the Oakland Athletics to three straight pennants between 1988 and 1990 and winning the 1989 World Series. He would attempt to join Sparky Anderson as the only men to have managed teams to World Series championships in both leagues. He wore #10 in tribute to Anderson and to indicate he was trying to win the team's 10th championship.
Series build-up
The coming series was heavily discussed and analyzed by the American media. The Star-News of Wilmington, North Carolina, compared the Red Sox and Cardinals position by position and concluded that the Cardinals were stronger in eight positions, the Red Sox in four and both teams even in one. They predicted that the Cardinals would win the series in seven games. Andrew Haskett of E-Sports.com praised the two teams' starting pitchers but also said that the Cardinals "took a serious blow" when Chris Carpenter was forced out of the series due to an injury to his arm. He noted the teams' power hitters, especially the Red Sox's David Ortiz and the Cardinals' Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds. While he praised the Red Sox defense, he called the Cardinals "one of the best defensive teams to ever walk onto a baseball field". Ultimately he concluded that the series would be close and that the Red Sox would win it.John Donovan of Sports Illustrated noted the team's expected ascent to the championship, writing that they were "not supposed to be here". He called the series a "blast from the past" because both teams were very old franchises and had twice previously met in the World Series. He wrote that the Red Sox had the edge in pitching and the Cardinals in defense and batting. He concluded that Schilling and Martinez would be the "key to Series" and that the Red Sox would win in six games. Jim Molony of MLB.com, said he expected the series to play out differently from the last time the two teams met in the World Series in because both team offenses had been some of the best in the league during the season, while pitching had been very dominant in 1967.
Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe said that "Bally's in Las Vegas set the Red Sox as 8–5 favorites to win the Series" and that there was "some sentiment in St. Louis that the NL champions have been disrespected". but also that Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein "Did not want to dis the Cardinals". Shaughnessy also quoted Schilling as having said: "There's a lot of good players in that clubhouse over there. This isn't the time for us to be thinking about history. If we get three wins and 26 outs into the fourth win, I'm pretty sure it will hit us." Before the series began, Shaughnessy wrote that although the Red Sox had beaten the Yankees, the series needed to be won, as it was the only way to end the Curse of the Bambino, which he had publicized based on the book of the same title in 1990, and demeaning chants of "1918!" would no longer echo at Yankee Stadium. During the series, he wrote that people in New England were thinking about loved ones who had spent their entire lives hoping that they would see their Red Sox win a World Series.
Both teams had lost in their previous World Series appearances in seven games. The Red Sox lost to the New York Mets in, while the Cardinals lost in to the Minnesota Twins. The Cardinals and Red Sox had not won the World Series since and respectively. When the two teams had previously played each other in the and 1967 World Series, the Cardinals won both series in seven games. Having won the All-Star Game, the AL had been awarded home-field advantage, which meant the Red Sox had the advantage at Fenway Park in four of the seven games in the series.