2007 World Series
The 2007 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's 2007 season. The 103rd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League champion Colorado Rockies and the American League champion Boston Red Sox; the Red Sox swept the Rockies in four games.
It is the Rockies' first and only appearance in a World Series as of 2025. Boston’s victory was their second World Series championship in four seasons, their second consecutive World Series sweep and their seventh World Series victory overall; it also marked the third sweep in four years by the AL champions. The series began on Wednesday, October 24 and ended on Sunday, October 28.
Terry Francona became the second Red Sox manager to win two World Series titles, following Bill Carrigan, who won the 1915 and 1916 World Series. Including the last three games of the AL Championship Series, the Red Sox outscored their opposition 59–15 over their final seven games. Francona also became the first manager to win his first 8 World Series games. The Rockies, meanwhile, became the first NL team to get swept in a World Series after sweeping the League Championship Series, and just the second team ever to suffer such a fate, following the Oakland Athletics in 1990. This fate would again be suffered by the 2012 Detroit Tigers, being swept by the San Francisco Giants in the World Series after sweeping the New York Yankees in the ALCS. As of the conclusion of the 2024 season, 2007 remains the most recent season an American League team has swept a National League team in the World Series.
Background
This was the fourth time since the beginning of interleague play in 1997 that a World Series matchup would be a rematch from the regular season. The Rockies beat the Red Sox 2-1 in a three game series at Fenway Park from June 12–14.Over the course of 29 days in September through the middle of October, the Rockies won 21 games and lost just once, including sweeps of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS and the division rival Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. They also beat the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card tie-breaker. The Rockies run in 2007 proved to be one of the most unlikely postseason runs in MLB history, having just 33/1 odds at the start of 2007 to win the National League. The Rockies' eight-day layoff was the longest in MLB postseason history, caused by their sweep in the NLCS, the ALCS going seven games, and scheduling by MLB.
The Red Sox were more a conventionally dominant team, leading the American League East for most the season. In the postseason, the Red Sox swept the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALDS and defeated the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS after trailing three games to one, taking the final three contests by a combined score of 30–5. There were a number of the famed curse-breaking 2004 Red Sox players still with the team. Neither participating team was in the previous year's postseason.
Per the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Red Sox had home-field advantage in the World Series following the American League's 5–4 win in the 2007 All-Star Game. The first two games took place in Boston, with games 3 and 4 in Denver.
Ticket controversy
On October 17, 2007, a week before the first game of the World Series, the Colorado Rockies announced that tickets would be made available to the general public via online sales only, despite prior arrangements to sell the tickets at local retail outlets. Five days later, California-based ticket vendor Paciolan, Inc., the sole contractor authorized by the Colorado Rockies to distribute tickets, was forced to suspend sales after less than an hour due to an exorbitant number of purchase attempts.The Rockies organization said that they were the victims of a denial-of-service attack. The FBI started its own investigation into these claims. Ticket sales resumed the next day, with all three home games selling out within hours.
The Red Sox also relied primarily on online sales to sell the game tickets, although some Fenway Park tickets were sold on the phone and at the box office. The Sox held a random drawing for the right to buy post season tickets on October 15, and winners bought tickets at a private online sale. Street prices were lower in Boston this time than in 2004: the average price, according to StubHub, was about $1500 in 2007, down about $300 from three years previously. Some Sox fans found that it was cheaper to travel to Denver to see World Series games than to pay the street price for Boston game tickets.
Summary
Matchups
Game 1
The Red Sox cruised to a blowout win in Game 1 behind ALCS MVP Josh Beckett, who struck out nine batters, including the first four he faced, over seven innings en route to his fourth win of the 2007 postseason. Mike Timlin and Éric Gagné pitched a perfect eighth and ninth, respectively.Boston Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski threw the ceremonial first pitch, as he had done before Game 1 in 2004. Rookie Dustin Pedroia led off the Sox' first inning with a home run over the Green Monster in Fenway Park off of Jeff Francis. Pedroia's homer was only the second lead-off home run to start a World Series. Kevin Youkilis then doubled to right, moved to third on David Ortiz's groundout, and scored on Manny Ramirez's single. After Mike Lowell flew out, Jason Varitek singled before J. D. Drew doubled to score Ramirez and make it 3-0 Red Sox.
The Rockies got on the board in the second when Garrett Atkins doubled with one out off Beckett and scored on Troy Tulowitzki's double one out later, but the Red Sox got that run back off of Francis when Youkilis walked with two outs and scored on Ortiz's double. In the fourth, the Red Sox loaded the bases with two outs on a single, double, and intentional walk when Varitek's two-run double put them up 6–1.
They put the game out of reach with seven runs in the fifth. Julio Lugo hit a leadoff single off of reliever Franklin Morales before Jacoby Ellsbury bunted into a forceout at second. After Pedroia popped out, a balk moved Ellsbury to second before he scored on Youkilis's double. Ortiz's double and Ramirez's single scored a run each. The Red Sox loaded the bases on a double and walk before Drew's single scored another run. Ryan Speier relieved Morales and walked all three batters he faced to force in three more Boston runs. Matt Herges relieved Speier and got Youkilis to fly out to right to end the inning.
Though Herges and two relievers held Boston scoreless for the rest of the game, the Red Sox finished with 13 runs, the most ever in a World Series Game 1, and tied another record with nine extra base hits. The last 11 of the Red Sox runs came with two outs.
Game 2
The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Andrew Madden, a 13-year-old heart transplant recipient, accompanied by Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame member Dwight Evans. After the debacle of Game 1, Colorado appeared to return to form, scoring quickly on a groundout by Todd Helton with runners on second and third in the first. However, this would be the only time the Rockies ever led in the series as postseason veteran Curt Schilling and Boston's bullpen allowed no other runs in the contest. The Red Sox tied the game in the fourth off of Ubaldo Jimenez on Jason Varitek's sacrifice fly with runners on second and third, then took the lead next inning on Mike Lowell's RBI double with runners on first and second. Matt Holliday had four of Colorado's five hits in Game 2, including a base hit off Papelbon with two outs in the eighth. Before throwing another pitch, Papelbon caught Holliday leaning too far off first base and picked him off—Papelbon's first career pickoff.Game 3
This was the first World Series game ever played in Colorado. At 4 hours 19 minutes, it became the longest nine-inning game in World Series history. Game 3 was also the 600th World Series game ever played. Starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched five innings of scoreless ball and left in the sixth with no runs allowed. The Red Sox struck first with a six-run third inning. Rookie Jacoby Ellsbury hit a leadoff double, moved to third on Dustin Pedroia's single, and scored on David Ortiz's double. After Manny Ramirez was intentionally walked, Mike Lowell's single scored two more runs. J. D. Drew popped out before Ramirez was thrown out at home on Jason Varitek's single with Lowell advancing to third. After Julio Lugo walked to load the bases, Matsuzaka hit a two-run single for his first base hit and RBI in the Major Leagues. Ellsbury capped the scoring with his second double of the inning to knock Colorado starter Josh Fogg out of the game. The Rockies' bats came to life in the sixth and seventh innings against a normally-solid but now-shaky Boston bullpen. After Matsuzaka walked two straight in the sixth with one out, reliever Javier López allowed back-to-back RBI singles to Brad Hawpe and Yorvit Torrealba. Mike Timlin allowed two straight leadoff singles in the seventh before NLCS MVP Matt Holliday brought the Rockies to within one run with a three-run home run off Hideki Okajima. Brian Fuentes gave back those runs in the eighth by walking Lugo with one out and allowing a subsequent single to Coco Crisp before Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, who had four and three hits, respectively, on the night hit back-to-back RBI doubles, raising Boston's lead to 9–5. Jonathan Papelbon came on for a four-out save, getting Holliday to fly out on one pitch, leaving runners on first and second. Jason Varitek would tack on Boston's tenth run in the top of the ninth off of LaTroy Hawkins with a sacrifice fly, scoring Mike Lowell who, not generally considered a stolen base threat, had just stolen third base—the first time a Red Sox baserunner stole third base in the World Series since 1975—after hitting a leadoff single and moving to second on a sacrifice bunt. Papelbon came back out in the bottom of the ninth to complete the save, getting the first two outs before surrendering a two-out triple to Brad Hawpe, then finishing the game with a groundout from Yorvit Torrealba. The Red Sox took Game 3 by a final score of 10–5.The Red Sox continued to set World Series records during Game 3:
- Ellsbury and Pedroia combined to score three runs and drive in four, while being the first rookies to bat 1–2 in a World Series lineup.
- Ellsbury became the third rookie in Series history with four hits in a game, joining Freddie Lindstrom of the New York Giants and Joe Garagiola of the Cardinals.
- Matsuzaka became the first Japanese pitcher to start and win a World Series game. The only pitchers in Red Sox history, other than Matsuzaka, to have two RBI and be the winning pitcher were Babe Ruth in and Cy Young in.
- The Red Sox' 16 doubles tied a World Series record, set by the Champion Cardinals. The Red Sox would break the record in Game 4, finishing with 18.