OK other then 2004 what was the sweetest pennant?

jaytftwofive

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I mean in the playoff era 1969 to present. (I'm 61). My choice is 1986. For me that Game 7 clincher over Angels was the sweetest to me. From being down 3 games to 1 after the heartbreak of Schiraldi hitting Downing in the 9th to tie it then to lose in extra innings just killed me. Thank God for Baylor and Hendu. They saved our butt. My dad was alive and he had a quite a smile on his face. He could be a Cynical Sox fan(He passed away in 1999) I went out to celebrate at a Philly area bar. Many New England College students and transplants were there. I can honestly say I was never happier at the time as a Boston sports fan. (OK maybe Celts beating Lakers in 84 and Bobby Orr's goal in 70) but you get the feeling I had. They were all great 75, 86, 04, 07, 2013 and 2018, but other then October 20th 2004 and October 27th 2004, that was the sweetest Moment for a Red Sox pennant clincher. There's more to do. I hope they play the Brewers. GO RED SOX!
 
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timlinin8th

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Can I count this one? Recency bias but this one.

If not I'd say 2013. The '07 team I didn't have a lot of doubt about so it was basically confirming that they were the best team. With 2013 taking into account everything that had happened with the Marathon bombings, a lot of journeyman types assembled for that year, facing a juggernaut Tigers team in the ALCS... that team was blessed.

But this team... how do you win 108 regular season games and be ALCS underdogs? How do you kick the shit outta two teams with 203 combined regular season wins to get into the World Series? Whew this season has been amazing, gotta hope for four more.
 

Bergs

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1986 for me. I have flashbacks of that autumn every year. It is the year (not just the season) that defined me most as a human being, and the Sox were a big part of it.
 

jaytftwofive

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Can I count this one? Recency bias but this one.

If not I'd say 2013. The '07 team I didn't have a lot of doubt about so it was basically confirming that they were the best team. With 2013 taking into account everything that had happened with the Marathon bombings, a lot of journeyman types assembled for that year, facing a juggernaut Tigers team in the ALCS... that team was blessed.

But this team... how do you win 108 regular season games and be ALCS underdogs? How do you kick the shit outta two teams with 203 combined regular season wins to get into the World Series? Whew this season has been amazing, gotta hope for four more.
Yes and that Tigers rotation.........Verlander, Scherzer, Porcello, Sanchez. I forget, were the Sox slight underdogs? I know we won more games but that rotation??? Game 2 Leyland blew it. Sox had no business winning that game. But.....they pitched to Papi. LOL.
 

edoug

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Can I count this one? Recency bias but this one.

If not I'd say 2013. The '07 team I didn't have a lot of doubt about so it was basically confirming that they were the best team. With 2013 taking into account everything that had happened with the Marathon bombings, a lot of journeyman types assembled for that year, facing a juggernaut Tigers team in the ALCS... that team was blessed.

But this team... how do you win 108 regular season games and be ALCS underdogs? How do you kick the shit outta two teams with 203 combined regular season wins to get into the World Series? Whew this season has been amazing, gotta hope for four more.
I go along with this. '13 was special but this year is the first A.P., After Papi. It wasn't just a nice run, the team is in good hands. I want to add that I am in no way saying winning the World Series is a fait accompli. Just they're good enough to win it.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Yes and that Tigers rotation.........Verlander, Scherzer, Porcello, Sanchez. I forget, were the Sox slight underdogs? I know we won more games but that rotation??? Game 2 Leyland blew it. Sox had no business winning that game. But.....they pitched to Papi. LOL.
Other than the grand slam, Papi was dead quiet in that series. Sure he's still Papi but with bases loaded, not surprising they tried to pitch to him.

Regarding the Tiger rotation, was that not the best rotation to not win a World Series in a long long time? They really had an surprisingly tough run as far as post-season letdowns. Swept in the WS in 2012 (yeah they made it but not one win?), the Sox handle them in 2013, then swept out of the LDS by the Orioles in 2014. What could have been.
 

luckiestman

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1986 for me. I have flashbacks of that autumn every year. It is the year (not just the season) that defined me most as a human being, and the Sox were a big part of it.
That is one of the best years of my childhood. I’m not even is sox/pats fan but growing up in MA, ‘86 was great.
 

TheoShmeo

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This is like choosing among your children. I can eliminate 1975 and 1986 given the outcomes. And this one will depend in retrospect on what happens next.

If forced to choose, I'd have to go 2013. Between the marathon tie in, the many comebacks, how unexpected that team's success was and being there for the Papi blast in game 2, that one stands out for me.
 

ookami7m

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I’m trying to avoid the fresh feelings and bias towards this team so that I can say 2013 but it’s damn close.

2013:
The bombing
Every signing hitting at full strength
Three little birds
Big Papi going nuclear
That Tigers team folding like a newspaper
First time my daughter was old enough to really follow and get hooked - leaving post it notes on her bed with the scores after she went to sleep.

2018:
108 wins
Brazier, Pearce, Kinsler, Eovladi - guys picked up mid season or off the scrap heap to be huge parts of the post season.
Mookie MVP
JDM bringing the hitting guru skills
Beating two 100 win teams on the way to the WS
Watching games with all of my daughters and having them ask really good baseball questions as they turn into fans.


I think it may be this year by a nose.
 

Van Everyman

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I’m trying to avoid the fresh feelings and bias towards this team so that I can say 2013 but it’s damn close.

2013:
The bombing
Every signing hitting at full strength
Three little birds
Big Papi going nuclear
That Tigers team folding like a newspaper
First time my daughter was old enough to really follow and get hooked - leaving post it notes on her bed with the scores after she went to sleep.

2018:
108 wins
Brazier, Pearce, Kinsler, Eovladi - guys picked up mid season or off the scrap heap to be huge parts of the post season.
Mookie MVP
JDM bringing the hitting guru skills
Beating two 100 win teams on the way to the WS
Watching games with all of my daughters and having them ask really good baseball questions as they turn into fans.


I think it may be this year by a nose.
Love this post.
 

lexrageorge

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Probably has to be 1975 for me; it was the first time I got to see the Sox in the World Series (I was too young in 1967 to notice or remember). Defeating the A's team of Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue, and Rollie Fingers, the winners of 3 straight World Series, in 3 straight games was both amazing and totally unexpected. Still feel that would had been the team to "break the curse" had Jim Rice not gotten hurt.

2013 was probably the most fun team, so it's a very close 2nd.

This team is just dominant in a strange sort of way. It's so easy to focus on their weaknesses (which seem glaring at times), but somehow they end nearly every game with more runs on the board. It's been like that all season.
 

WenZink

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I know this is going to sound like "old-bastard baseball," but "winning the pennant" lost some luster after the introduction of league divisions in 1969.

Before '69, a team played for 6 months to win a pennant, and it mean so much. Yes, a World Series win meant a lot, but losing in the WS did not lessen the value of winning your league's championship. Today, "winning the pennant" means that you made the playoffs and won the first two rounds.

I remember Felger commenting that he never understood why the older Sox fans held Carl Yastrzemski in such high esteem. "All he did," opined Felger, "Is lead the Red Sox to a second place finish." I think Felger, in general, is an idiot, but I also understand that he is too young to have experienced a "real" pennant race.

That being said, I understand fully, why MLB had to go to a multi-tier playoff system, and also enjoy the excitement of a month of playoff baseball, even if it diminished the regular season.

But.... to the OP's point ....2013 remains my favorite, post-1968 ALCS championship. So many improbable role-players; Koji, Napoli and Shane Victorino getting that last bit of talent out of his aging body. Redemption for Lackey. The beginning of Lester's long goodbye. And, of course, David Ortiz! David Ortiz! David Ortiz!
 

BigPapiLumber Co.

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2013 - The bombings, the awful 2012 making 2013 so unexpected, the personality of the team - Victorino, Gomes, Napoli, Koji, plus Pedroia healthy all season. And PAPI! I love that team.
Plus, my daughter was 10 months old at the time, so while she wouldn't have any idea what was going on, she would never go her lifetime w/o the Sox winning the Series.
 

garlan5

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2013 for me too. I don't know how many walk offs that year but it seemed like it could have been a record amount. I think that team overachieved big time too. Koji was magical. I thought his luck/dominance would run out but it never did. Gomes always came up aces in the field and at the plate. I just dont know how. Craig Breslow during the season was suspect and somehow he was painting in some key moments in the playoffs. I was worried about the Tigers after game 1 especially down 4 runs late. Everything went right for us when it seemed it couldnt or shouldnt
 

Minneapolis Millers

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1975 for me. Beat the three-time defending champ in the LCS. It was a young fun team like this one.
Ditto. And they beat Oakland by sending Yaz back out to LF after having lost Rice, where he played GG-caliber D. That was a remarkable season, and the future looked so bright...
 

mBiferi

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2007 for me.

Living outside of the US, it was a bit difficult during that time being able to follow every single game of the season but I managed to watch at least 140 games of the regular season plus the playoffs. From game 1 at Kansas we had so many storylines that year. Dice K debut, Pedroia against Gagne at Arlington, Buchholz's no-no, Lester coming back from cancer, Beckett blossoming into a stud, mother's day comeback, Papelbon getting the closer job, Tavarez rubbing Manny's head and being a quite good 5th starter, the 4 HRs in a row against the Yankees, Okajima throwing to the plate without even looking...

And then the playoffs with Manny's walkoff, the comeback against the Indians (they brought Beckett's ex to sing the national anthem) and finally, destroying the Rockies. That season for me was perfect from game 1 until the last one.

Amazing year.
 

m0ckduck

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Beckett’s game 5 win in 2007 is way up there on my list of favorite all-time single-game performances by a Sox player. Nevertheless,
I can’t really get behind 2007 on this ballot owing to the feeling that the Sox underperformed badly to fall into that 3-1 hole in the first place. It wasn’t a great Indians team they were facing, and yet some piss-poor pitching in the middle of that series nearly sent them packing.

I don’t remember 75.
86 had the best game (Game 5: arguably the most exciting baseball game ever played)
2013 featured the best opponent
2018 features the best Sox team

So... pick your criteria, I guess.
 

deanx0

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2007, only because it proved 2004 wasn't a fluke.
Not only that, but the only thing people could mention about 04 was that we did it through the Wild Card. 2007 had no such caveat--division winners and World Series winners.
 

tims4wins

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Between 2007, 2013, and 2018, I rank them as follows, from not as awesomely sweet to most sweet:
2007: as johnmd20 said, it proved 2004 wasn't a fluke, but there wasn't anything especially sweet about winning the pennant itself. Coming back from 3-1 was awesome, Josh Beckett was awesome, the JD grand slam in game 6 was awesome, the Indians botching their chance to tie it or take the lead (I forget) in game 7 was awesome, and the Pedroia home run to cap off the late blowout rally was awesome. Oh and the MFY losing to the Indians in the first round because of the Joba bug game was awesome. But it was less awesome than the others. Because...
2018: because it took getting through the 100 win MFY and the 103 win defending champs. Because Sale hasn't been Sale, because the bullpen has been so up and down. It's crazy to think they have gone 7-2 against these two teams given the state the Sox are in. That makes this pennant very satisfying, as does the aspect that it proves this 108 win team was no fluke and clearly the best team in the AL. But it wasn't better than 2013 because...
2013: because not only were they down 1 game to 0, they were down 5-1 in game 2, barely had any hits in the damn series to that point (seriously, they had 1 hit through the first 14 innings, and only 3 hits in 16 innings heading into the bottom of the 8th of game 2), but they were also facing that ridiculously talented and deep Detroit rotation. That series was ridiculously satisfying. The Lackey 1-0 win over Verlander in game 3. The nailbiter 4-3 win in game 5, with the Sox going up 4-0 and watching the Tigers eke out a few runs one by one until Craig Motherfuckin Breslow shut the door and then Koji went 5 outs for the save. And then of course the game 6 heroics, with the Jonny Gomes near home-run leadoff double in the 7th, the clutch Xander walk vs. Scherzer, the botched double play ball by Iglesias, and then the unforgettable Victorino grand slam on the 0-2 pitch. It was so, so satisfying to win that series and beat that Tigers team, without even considering the Boston Strong aspect.
 

Al Zarilla

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Not sure why you include only playoff era to have a sweetness of pennant poll, so coloring outside the lines, 1967 was it for me. Absolutely unexpected, didn't even get over and hold .500 until Memorial Day, down to the last day with three teams still in it. There isn't any other Sox pennant that's close to 1967. Sorry for breaking the rulz.
 

riboflav

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I know this is going to sound like "old-bastard baseball," but "winning the pennant" lost some luster after the introduction of league divisions in 1969.

Before '69, a team played for 6 months to win a pennant, and it mean so much. Yes, a World Series win meant a lot, but losing in the WS did not lessen the value of winning your league's championship. Today, "winning the pennant" means that you made the playoffs and won the first two rounds.

I remember Felger commenting that he never understood why the older Sox fans held Carl Yastrzemski in such high esteem. "All he did," opined Felger, "Is lead the Red Sox to a second place finish." I think Felger, in general, is an idiot, but I also understand that he is too young to have experienced a "real" pennant race.

That being said, I understand fully, why MLB had to go to a multi-tier playoff system, and also enjoy the excitement of a month of playoff baseball, even if it diminished the regular season.

But.... to the OP's point ....2013 remains my favorite, post-1968 ALCS championship. So many improbable role-players; Koji, Napoli and Shane Victorino getting that last bit of talent out of his aging body. Redemption for Lackey. The beginning of Lester's long goodbye. And, of course, David Ortiz! David Ortiz! David Ortiz!
Sports as narrative alert! Had Yaz played in this era with four, no five, AL teams making the playoffs every year, we'd most likely be spared this "take."
 

WenZink

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I'm not sure I get your point. But, outside of New England, I'd bet that the most memorable MLB event was in 1951 when.... "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"

Today, Russ Hodges' call would have been.... "The Giants make the playoffs! The Giants make the playoffs!" Not quite the same.

Now without looking, who won the the 1951 World Series?
 
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DamageTrain

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1986-- first year I was old enough and I followed the team all year. Plus -- Hendu brought the team back from the dead.


The joy of Henderson leaping at 0:50 of the video!
 

TFisNEXT

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This one is really satisfying....but there's still something magical about 2013. Coming off the horrendous 2012 disaster. All those veteran short term signings and the face of the franchise (Papi) coming off a nasty achilles injury that ended his 2012 and kept him out the first week of the 2013 season. John Lackey coming off TJ surgery. Ellsbury coming off another injury-plagued 2012. Then losing our starting and backup closers (Bailey and Hanrahan) The list goes on.

None of us really knew what to expect. But as that season grew into summer, you felt something special with all the walk-off wins and the veterans like Napoli and Victorino having big bounceback seasons. Koji coming out of nowhere to become the most dominant closer in the game. Papi rebounding from the achilles injury to once again terrify opposing pitchers.

But then they lost game 1 to Detroit and looked dead in game 2 and it seemed like the whole season was a mirage.....until Papi saved it. The rest is history capped off by the Victorino grand slam to clinch it and then Papi's crazy awesome World Series. If there was ever a team that could feel some sort of magic or destiny after 2004, it was 2013.

2007 was awesome, but they just felt like they were there to steamroll you, and it was more of a shock that they fell behind CLE 3-1 in the first place than that they came back.
 

lexrageorge

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I'm not sure I get your point. But, outside of New England, I'd bet that the most memorable MLB event was in 1951 when.... "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"

Today, Russ Hodges' call would have been.... "The Giants make the playoffs! The Giants make the playoffs!" Not quite the same.

Now without looking, who won the the 1951 World Series?
I did know that the '51 Giants became Yankee fodder in the World Series that year without looking it up.

What I did not know, until I looked it up, was that the Indians and Yankees were tied for the AL lead as late as September 19th. Cleveland would lose 5 of their last 6, while the Yankees would win 7 of the 8 remaining games they had against the Sox, including a 5 game sweep at Yankee Stadium.

The Sox themselves were in first place for a brief spell in mid-July, and still in the thick of things in mid-September, being only 2.5 games back as late as 9/18. But then they would lose 12 of their final 13.

That Sox team won 87 games and finished 11 games behind that season, which would be the most wins and the closest they would come to the pennant until.....1967.
 

chrisfont9

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They are all so different... but OK, leaving out 2004 entirely, as we should:

1. 1986. I was a senior in college. The drought was substantial, and the win was just off the charts dramatic.
2. 2018. Probably the best achievement in terms of competition and performance. Really likable team, arguably the best Sox team of all time.
3. 2013. Just a total WTF season, and as described above beating that Tigers team was incredible.
4. 2007. Great, fun, etc. But this is a tough list.

This year's ALCS ranks with 2007 for least dramatic. And that's including game 4, which was about as dramatic as a game can be. It's crazy that every time the Sox go on a deep postseason run the games themselves end up being beyond description dramatic. Game-saving or momentum-changing homers, bases-loaded pitching escapes, now a game-winning catch that was an inch away from a bases-clearing loss. What's even left?
 

Al Zarilla

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I'm not sure I get your point. But, outside of New England, I'd bet that the most memorable MLB event was in 1951 when.... "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"

Today, Russ Hodges' call would have been.... "The Giants make the playoffs! The Giants make the playoffs!" Not quite the same.

Now without looking, who won the the 1951 World Series?
The team that won all the World Series back then (practically), the Yankees, and I didn’t have to look.:D
 

terrynever

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The team that won all the World Series back then (practically), the Yankees, and I didn’t have to look.:D
Those were the days. Yanks won five straight, six of seven. The dynasty at its zenith. 1936-41 was a good run, too, until Hitler came along.
 

Al Zarilla

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Those were the days. Yanks won five straight, six of seven. The dynasty at its zenith. 1936-41 was a good run, too, until Hitler came along.
Funny, I never thought of Hitler as the one to end the Gehrig overlapping with DiMaggio Yankee run, but you can say that. The team coming out of the chute in first place when the fucker was dead was the Red Sox though.
 

TeddyBallgame9

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1975 when Yaz went out to left field to replace Rice and played like a young stud. They beat the unbeatable Oakland A’s.
I'm in this camp. As an impressionable 10 year old that '75 team was really fun to watch and led to what I still consider to be the best played World Series I've ever watched.
 

montoursvillefan

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Between 2007, 2013, and 2018, I rank them as follows, from not as awesomely sweet to most sweet:
2007: as johnmd20 said, it proved 2004 wasn't a fluke, but there wasn't anything especially sweet about winning the pennant itself. Coming back from 3-1 was awesome, Josh Beckett was awesome, the JD grand slam in game 6 was awesome, the Indians botching their chance to tie it or take the lead (I forget) in game 7 was awesome, and the Pedroia home run to cap off the late blowout rally was awesome. Oh and the MFY losing to the Indians in the first round because of the Joba bug game was awesome. But it was less awesome than the others. Because...
2018: because it took getting through the 100 win MFY and the 103 win defending champs. Because Sale hasn't been Sale, because the bullpen has been so up and down. It's crazy to think they have gone 7-2 against these two teams given the state the Sox are in. That makes this pennant very satisfying, as does the aspect that it proves this 108 win team was no fluke and clearly the best team in the AL. But it wasn't better than 2013 because...
2013: because not only were they down 1 game to 0, they were down 5-1 in game 2, barely had any hits in the damn series to that point (seriously, they had 1 hit through the first 14 innings, and only 3 hits in 16 innings heading into the bottom of the 8th of game 2), but they were also facing that ridiculously talented and deep Detroit rotation. That series was ridiculously satisfying. The Lackey 1-0 win over Verlander in game 3. The nailbiter 4-3 win in game 5, with the Sox going up 4-0 and watching the Tigers eke out a few runs one by one until Craig Motherfuckin Breslow shut the door and then Koji went 5 outs for the save. And then of course the game 6 heroics, with the Jonny Gomes near home-run leadoff double in the 7th, the clutch Xander walk vs. Scherzer, the botched double play ball by Iglesias, and then the unforgettable Victorino grand slam on the 0-2 pitch. It was so, so satisfying to win that series and beat that Tigers team, without even considering the Boston Strong aspect.
I'm with tims4 on this year and I claim 2018. This a really good team, all the way around. Cora gets lots of votes for team and league MVP. Oh, and it was fun to watch Boone suck it big time.
 

GlucoDoc

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Breaking the rules again, I still have to think back to 1967 as being special. (I doubt there are many SOSH participants that remember 1946.) I was aware of the Red Sox since late 50s, and in that lifetime knew them as only perennial losers, with the exception of Ted Williams for part of that time as the only real attraction. You could get bleacher seats for $.50, and walk into the grandstand for $1.50 on the day of the game and have a whole row to yourself. 1967 changed that forever. And the seats were never again that cheap or available!

But 2013, of the years under discussion, is the most exciting to me. Yet also for this year, I remain in awe of the overall excellence of the team. Probably the best in that regard that many of us have seen.
 

terrynever

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Funny, I never thought of Hitler as the one to end the Gehrig overlapping with DiMaggio Yankee run, but you can say that. The team coming out of the chute in first place when the fucker was dead was the Red Sox though.
That was back in a long ago era where athletes could get drafted.
 

Dewey'sCannon

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Ditto. And they beat Oakland by sending Yaz back out to LF after having lost Rice, where he played GG-caliber D. That was a remarkable season, and the future looked so bright...
I'm with you on this. Lots of players I loved - Yaz, Pudge, Lynn, Rice, Dewey, the Rooster, Rico, Lee and LOOIE in the rotation, Drago in the pen. Would have won the Series if Rice hadn't been injured Cooper, who was effectively his replacement, as he played 1B when Yaz shifted back to left, went 1 for 19 in the Series).
 

phenweigh

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This is like choosing among Treehouse IPAs, they're all great. I loved the 75 team, the 86 ALCS was a thriller, the 04 ALCS was historic, the 07 ALCS another thriller, and the 18 AL playoffs cemented the greatness of the 108 win regular season. But Boston Strong wins for me, as bringing a city together in the face of tragedy transcended baseball. And the baseball was great too, season long and the ALCS.
 

reggiecleveland

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1986-- first year I was old enough and I followed the team all year. Plus -- Hendu brought the team back from the dead.


The joy of Henderson leaping at 0:50 of the video!
Me too. It was so hard to win the division. I followed the team by phoning the sports line at the local radio station to get the scores. I remember how on the days Clemens pitched they almost always won.

If you were not around to just watch the Youtube clip or even know the sequence of the 86 loss to the Mets will seem atrociously painful. But, that 86 team had somehow escaped the ALCS and if you think announcers blew sun up Jeter or Bregman's ass, Reggie Jackson was called "Mr. October!!!" every single time he came to the plate, was on deck, in the hole, the camera found him scratching his sack in the dugout. Plus Reggie was an insufferable ass (imagine Ned Flanders with Mohammed Ali;s cockiness), and an ex Yankee so it was awesome to watch him flail away and get beaten.

Donnie Moore's suicide, and Buckner's error have spoiled it, but at the time it was a fantastic ALCS.