In high school, one of my friends went through a pretty rough breakup and would go out of his way to avoid his ex-girlfriend’s street, meaning a normally short drive would often turn into an extended ride. I bring this up because, for 20 years, I’ve avoided anything and everything that has to do with the 2004 World Series in which the Boston Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals. Well, that all changed with the release of The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox, which recently debuted on the 2024 TV schedule.
Upon first hearing about the three-part documentary, I thought it was going to be another celebration of that 2004 Boston team and “The Idiots” that brought the first World Series trophy to Beantown in 86 years. And while this admittedly great baseball docuseries does show the team that left me and my fellow Cards fans on the wrong side of history celebrating an unlikely victory, the 2024 Netflix original also changed the way I look at the Red Sox and the 2004 World Series in general.
Being A Cardinals Fan, The 2004 World Series Has Always Been A Touchy Topic
For the past 20 years, the 2004 World Series has sent shivers down my spine and made my hands all clammy whenever it is brought up, and for good reason. While the Red Sox barely made it into the postseason that year, the St. Louis Cardinals had one of the best seasons in franchise history with a record of 105-57, per Baseball Reference. Hall of Famers Scott Rollen and Larry Walker were on the team, as was future HOFer Albert Pujols, along with other insanely talented players up and down the lineup. On paper, they were unbeatable.
But as would later be the case in 2013 when the Cardinals were defeated by the Red Sox in a six-game World Series just months after New England was united 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, the victory was like one of those great baseball movie moments, but for me…. Well, I just ended up reading A. Bartlet Giamatti’s “The Green Fields of the Mind” and looked toward the following spring.
While Watching The Comeback, I Started To See The Red Sox As More Than Just A Team That Embarrassed The Cardinals
As I made my way through The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox, I saw those 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 starting the premier baseball dynasty of the 21st century. Instead, I saw a team of castaways and underappreciated players who found companionship and a place to call home, like Fenway was the “Island for Misfit Toys” or something.
The Comeback actually has very little to do with the 2004 World Series (it doesn’t start until there are 13 minutes left in the final episode). Though it is the goal the players (and the city of Boston) were working toward, the majority of the documentary is spent breaking down the heated rivalry between the Red Sox and New York Yankees, with the latter being the more dominant and successful combatant. 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 a 0-3 deficit to punch their ticket to the Fall Classic.
I Also Started To Look At The 2004 Fall Classic From The Perspective Of A Team And Fanbase In An 86-Year Championship Drought
Sports fandom is a strange thing. When you’re in the thick of it, you not only get annoyed by the fans of your favorite team’s opponent, but you begin to despise them, if only for a few hours. Outside looking in, it’s silly, petty, juvenile, and nonsensical; but reason and rationality go out the window when you’re a couple of outs away from being swept in the World Series.
As I watched The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox, which at times feels like a love letter to the City of Boston, I started to have a new perspective of that scrappy Red Sox team that captured the hearts of every square inch of America aside from St. Louis and New York City 20 years ago. And the experience also changed the way I saw the fanbase.
In the final moments of the documentary, former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, who helped usher in the new era for the team, talks about seeing pennants and Boston hats atop gravestones in cemeteries on the drive back from Logan International to Fenway just hours after Sox clinched the World Series. How can you not be romantic about baseball after hearing stories like that?
But It Was Wild Seeing The Red Sox Before They Became One Of The Biggest Sports Dynasties Of The 21st Century
But at the same time, it was pretty wild seeing the Red Sox before they became a massive sports dynasty that would go on to win three more World Series titles in the span of a decade-and-a-half. While it is true that the Sox haven’t been to the postseason since winning their fourth Fall Classic (and ninth in franchise history) back in 2018, they essentially became the New York Yankees in the 2000s and 2010 after stealing the Bronx Bombers’ mojo like they were in Space Jam in the 2004 ALCS.
Watching the hungry and broken-down fans plead with the baseball gods to lift the “Curse of the Bambino” before they became the biggest fanbases on the planet was something to see, and honestly, it helped me empathize with them a little more.
However, This Doesn't Take Away All The Pain Of The 2004 World Series (Or The 2013 Fall Classic)
Don’t let this new perspective make you think I’ve gotten over the 2004 World Series because I have not. Sure, the Cardinals have won two series themselves since then, and will probably win a few more if St. Louis gets its 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’ll probably never get over or understand the Sox sweeping the Cardinals four games to none. It just doesn’t make sense. But baseball is like that sometimes. And while I do take some solace in knowing that the Redbirds won two games before being defeated in the 2013 World Series (again by Boston), that’s another sting that won’t go away anytime soon.
It may be true that baseball isn’t as popular as it once was. However, if we keep getting more documentaries like The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox, which is streaming for anyone with a Netflix subscription, maybe that’ll change and people will come back around.
