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The Return of Netflix Really Changed the Way I View the Red Sox and the 2004 World Series

Umito November 3, 2024

In high school, a friend of mine went through a pretty bad breakup and would go out of his way to avoid his ex-girlfriend’s street, which meant that a normally short commute often turned into a long commute. I bring this up because for 20 years I avoided anything related to the 2004 World Series in which the Boston Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals. Well, that all changed with the release of The return: the 2004 Boston Red Sox, which recently debuted on the TV programming 2024.

Upon first hearing about the three-part documentary, I thought it would be another celebration of that 2004 Boston team and the “Idiots” who brought the first World Series trophy to Beantown in 86 years. And although this is certainly great baseball docuseries shows the team that left me and my fellow Cards fans on the wrong side of history celebrating an improbable victory, the 2024 Netflix original also changed the way I view the Red Sox and the World 2004 series in general.

The Boston Red Sox in The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox — (Image credit: Netflix)

As a Cardinals fan, the 2004 World Series has always been a touchy subject

For the past 20 years, the 2004 World Series has sent shivers down my spine and made my palms sweaty every time it’s talked about, and for good reason. While the Red Sox barely made the playoffs that year, the St. Louis Cardinals had one of the best seasons in franchise history with a 105-57 record, per Baseball reference. Hall of Famers Scott Rollen and Larry Walker were on the team, as was future HOFer Albert Pujols, along with other incredibly talented players up and down the roster. On paper, they were unbeatable.

But as was the case later in 2013, when the Cardinals were defeated by the Red Sox in a six-game World Series, just months after New England was unified by the Boston Marathon bombings, the Redbirds were just the final obstacle between the “Sawx”. and destiny, and you can’t compete with that. For everyone else, victory looked like that of great baseball movie momentsbut for me…. Well, I just ended up reading “ ” by A. Bartlet Giamatti.The green fields of the mind» and I looked ahead to the following spring.

The Boston Red Sox in The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox

(Image credit: Netflix)

Watching the comeback, I began to see the Red Sox as more than just a team that embarrassed the Cardinals

As I progressed The Return: The 2004 Boston Red SoxI saw these self-proclaimed “idiots” like Jason Varitek, David Ortiz, Johnny Damon, Pedro Martinez and the incredibly charismatic Kevin Millar as more than just the team that embarrassed the Cardinals in a four-game sweep and started the first baseball championship. dynasty of the 21st century. Instead, I saw a team of castaways and underappreciated players who found company and a home, as if Fenway was the “Island of Misfit Toys” or something.

The return actually has very little to do with the 2004 World Series (it doesn’t start until 13 minutes remain in the final episode). Although this is the goal the players (and the city of Boston) were working towards, the majority of the documentary is dedicated to breaking down the heated rivalry between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees, with the latter being the more dominant contender and the most efficient. The heartbreaking 2003 ALCS, the fights, the A-Rod situation, it’s all there and leads to the epic 2004 ALCS where Boston came back from an 0-3 deficit to punch their ticket to the Fall Classic .

A fan reacting to the Boston Red Sox in The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox

(Image credit: Netflix)

I also began looking at the 2004 Fall Classic from the perspective of a team and fan base in an 86-year championship drought.

Sports fandom is a strange thing. When you’re in the thick of things, not only are you annoyed by the fans of your favorite team’s opponent, but you start to despise them, if only for a few hours. From the outside looking in, it is silly, petty, juvenile and absurd; but reason and rationality disappear when you’re on the verge of being swept in the World Series.

While I watched The Return: The 2004 Boston Red Soxwhich sometimes looks like a love letter to the city of BostonI began to get a new perspective on that scrappy Red Sox team that captured the hearts of every inch of America except St. Louis and New York 20 years ago. And the experience also changed the way I viewed the fanbase.

In the documentary’s final moments, former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, who helped usher in the team’s new era, describes seeing pennants and Boston hats atop cemetery headstones during of Logan International’s return to Fenway just hours later. The Sox won the World Series. How not to be romantic about baseball after hearing stories like that?

The Boston Red Sox in The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox

(Image credit: Netflix)

But it was crazy to see the Red Sox before they became one of the greatest sports dynasties of the 21st century

But at the same time, it was pretty crazy to see the Red Sox before they became a huge sports dynasty that would win three more World Series titles in the span of a decade and a half. While it’s true that the Sox haven’t made the playoffs since winning their fourth Fall Classic (and ninth in franchise history) in 2018, they’ve essentially become the Yankees of New York in the 2000s and 2010s after stealing the mojo from the Bronx Bombers. as if they were in Ja Spacem in the 2004 ALCS.

Watching the hungry and broken fans beg the baseball gods to lift the “Curse of the Bambino” before they became the biggest fan bases on the planet was something to behold, and honestly, it helped me sympathize a little more with them.

The Boston Red Sox in The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox

(Image credit: Netflix)

However, that doesn’t take away all the pain of the 2004 World Series (or the 2013 Fall Classic)

Don’t let this new perspective fool you into thinking I made it through the 2004 World Series because I didn’t. Of course, the Cardinals have won two series themselves since then, and will likely win a few more if St. Louis gets their act together. But remember what I said earlier about sports fans lacking rationality and reasonable thoughts? I’m totally in that camp and can’t let things go, even after 20 years.

The truth is, I will probably never get over it and understand that the Sox swept the Cardinals four games to zero. It just doesn’t make sense. But baseball is like that sometimes. And while I find some comfort knowing that the Redbirds won two games before being defeated in the 2013 World Series (again by Boston), it’s another sting that won’t go away anytime soon.

It may be true baseball is not as popular as it used to be. However, if we continue to receive more documentaries like The Return: The 2004 Boston Red Soxwhich is streamed to anyone with a Netflix subscriptionmaybe it will change and people will come back.

Apre-salomemanzo

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The Return of Netflix Really Changed the Way I View the Red Sox and the 2004 World Series

As a Cardinals fan, the 2004 World Series has always been a touchy subject

Umito

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The Return of Netflix Really Changed the Way I View the Red Sox and the 2004 World Series

As a Cardinals fan, the 2004 World Series has always been a touchy subject

Umito

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