Twenty years ago this week, the Red Sox and Yankees played their final regular-season series before that epic 2003 ALCS matchup.
Heavy rains tearing through New England this week made an already lackluster matchup between the two scuffling clubs even more miserable with two doubleheaders in four days. The consolation prize: Trying to avoid the American League East basement.Not since 1966 have the Red Sox and Yankees finished last and second-to-last in their division. Before that? 1925.
In the moment, especially for an apoplectic fanbase, the heartbreak of 20 years ago this October felt familiar, yet almost inevitable, given the club’s history of postseason calamities. “On the one hand, in the immediate aftermath we were devastated by the loss and felt like it slipped away from us,” O’Halloran said. “But absolutely even further reinvigorated us to do anything we could to change the narrative and get over the hump. It just made us — if you could want it even more — it made us want it even more. And yeah so we turned the page quickly and started working toward improving the team and trying to achieve our goals.
The ramifications of that Game 7 loss led to three of the most significant moves the organization made ahead of 2004, ones that arguably pushed them over the top against the Yankees:The famous Thanksgiving Day recruitment dinner in which GM Theo Epstein convinced Schilling to waive his no-trade clause led to the Red Sox landing the accomplished veteran. Outside of, the Red Sox lacked a true front-end starter to match the Yankees’ tandem of Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina.
“It always seemed like we didn’t have that stable guy to go with Pedro and I always felt like that was the biggest difference,” Merloni said. “You have the greatest pitcher in baseball, one of them, and it’s like you needed that next guy. Those teams were good, but there were always some flaws.”The 2003 season marked the year of the closer by committee.
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