2003 ALCS Game 7

Lore & Background

The Red Sox led the major leagues in nearly all offensive categories, including runs scored (961), batting average (.289), on-base percentage (.360), and a .491 team slugging percentage, which set a new record previously held by the 1927 Yankees. It would stand until the 2019 season when the Astros (.495) and Twins (.494) both surpassed them. They also had 649 extra-base hits, the most ever by one team in a single season.

In Their Own Story

The air inside Yankee Stadium was heavy with humidity and suffocating tension as Tim Wakefield wound up. His knuckleball fluttered erratically through the night air, a deceptive dance that fooled the batter for one final pitch. Aaron Boone tightened his grip, eyes locked on the spinning sphere. The crowd held its breath until the moment of impact: the crack of the bat echoed like a gunshot, and the ball exploded off the end of the barrel. It didn't just clear the fence; it sailed deep into the right-field bleachers (historically left field from the pitcher's perspective, but visually soaring over the wall), instantly severing months of hope. In that split second, the Red Sox dream dissolved into the cold October night, replaced by a roar that shook the stadium foundations and a silence that would haunt Boston for another year.

Reader's Guide

In the 2003 ALCS, the Red Sox faced the New York Yankees. The teams split the first two games in the Bronx. Game 3 at Fenway Park featured a matchup between Pedro Martínez and Roger Clemens, which turned ugly early on. Karim García was hit in the back by a Martínez fastball, words were exchanged, and Manny Ramírez charged the mound after a high Clemens pitch. Both benches cleared, and 72-year-old Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer charged Martínez, who sidestepped and threw Zimmer to the ground. The Yankees took a 2–1 series lead. The Red Sox won Game 4, but the Yankees won Game 5 to take the series' lead back to New York. Boston forced a seventh game with nine runs on sixteen hits. In Game 7, with a 4–0 lead early on and Martínez pitching, Boston appeared on the brink of winning the pennant. But when Martínez started to get tired in the end of the 6th inning, manager Grady Little left him in to finish the inning and sent him out in the seventh and the eighth. The Yankees tied the game 5–5 with three eighth-inning runs off Martínez. Yankee closer Mariano Rivera pitched three scoreless innings, and in the bottom of the eleventh, Aaron Boone turned on the first offering from Tim Wakefield and sent it into the stands, ending the series.

Did You Know?

• The Red Sox set a record with 649 extra-base hits in a single season.
• David Ortiz joined the Red Sox in 2003 as a free agent and stayed until his retirement in 2016.
• The Red Sox settled a lawsuit in May 2003 over alleged sexual abuse by a clubhouse attendant between 1971 and 1991.