Choosing your Favorite Child

[Max Power]

There was a post in the Yamamoto thread to nowhere about liking the 2013 team more than the 2018 team. I totally agree that the 2013 season was more enjoyable. I found the cast of characters more entertaining with Pedey, Papi, Victorino, Napoli, and Koji. And the whole season from the Marathon bombing to the World Series Championship was a totally unexpected run from horror to elation. I think it's my favorite of the championship seasons, which feels weird with 2004's team including my two all time favorite players, Pedro and Manny. But there was just so much stress back then it was hard to fully enjoy the ride.

Which was your favorite?

 

[SemperFidelisSox]

2004. The first child is always the most special.
2013. The child you had low expectations for because they ate crayons as a kid but turned out to be a doctor.
2018. The child who is beyond exceptional and makes you question if you’re the real father.
2007. The child that wasn’t really planned but was a great surprise and you love.

 

[Jimbodandy]

2004. The first child is always the most special.
2013. The child you had low expectations for because they ate crayons as a kid but turned out to be a doctor.
2018. The child who is beyond exceptional and makes you question if you’re the real father.
2007. The child that wasn’t really planned but was a great surprise and you love.

This is absolute perfection.

 

[Pedroia's Itchy Nose]

Absolutely. We are in the most competitive division we have been in the wild card era and we literally have no rotation. We have Bello, the ghost of all star past with Sale, and the broken toy bin of Houck, Whitlock, Crawford, and Pivetta. Those six almost get you 700 IP! You can't run a successful bullpen if you are asking the bullpen to give you 700+ IP. Snell and Montgomery are above average arms that don't eat innings. They are the exact opposite of what this team needs.

2004. The first child is always the most special.
2013. The child you had low expectations for because they ate crayons as a kid but turned out to be a doctor.
2018. The child who is beyond exceptional and makes you question if you’re the real father.
2007. The child that wasn’t really planned but was a great surprise and you love.

Exactly this, couldn't have said it better.

 

[Yaz4Ever]

For me, it begins and ends with 2004. Everything after that is gravy. I certainly loved the 2007 and 2013. 2018 also holds a special place in my heart as I attended my first ever World Series game - Benintendi's catch - and met Papi.

 

[tims4wins]

I don’t get the comment about 2007. That was the best start to finish Sox team until 2018. Juggernaut. Built to win. Awesome personalities in Paps, Beckett, rookie Pedroia. Ellsbury. Peak Lowell. Youk. Oki. I loved that team. There is no question that the 2004 season was the most special. It can’t be argued. But the 2007 team was my favorite. Aside from Lugo!!!

 

[steeplechase3k]

2004 is the kid you had been trying to have for years all while being told that you were probably sterile.

 

[plucy]

How many of us cried after 07, 13, or 18?

 

[santadevil]

2013 was the most enjoyable for me

I loved each year the Sox have won, but I seemed to connect to these guys a bit more. The beards, the swagger, the underdog feeling after a brutal 2012 year
I still wear my beard shirt to this day

 

[cantor44]

2004. The first child is always the most special.
2013. The child you had low expectations for because they ate crayons as a kid but turned out to be a doctor.
2018. The child who is beyond exceptional and makes you question if you’re the real father.
2007. The child that wasn’t really planned but was a great surprise and you love.

I have the same order, but feel 2007 was the child you planned for long in advance, and everything happened on time and as expected! The A student who doesn't really surprise (though to add a bit of spice, they did shoot way ahead in first half and then slowly, excruciatingly saw their lead dwindle to the Yanks in the back half, but still came ahead by 2 games; 2013 was the unplanned kid!).

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

How many of us cried after 07, 13, or 18?

*raises hand*

They all brought tears to my eyes for various reasons. If it weren't for it being the first of my lifetime, I might rank 2004 third on my list behind 2013 and 2007. As much as l loved and enjoyed 2018, there was a sense of inevitability with that team. I felt more emotionally invested in the previous titles.

 

[tims4wins]

I have the same order, but feel 2007 was the child you planned for long in advance, and everything happened on time and as expected! The A student who doesn't really surprise (though to add a bit of spice, they did shoot way ahead in first half and then slowly, excruciatingly saw their lead dwindle to the Yanks in the back half, but still came ahead by 2 games; 2013 was the unplanned kid!).

Yes. 2007 was the culmination of 5 years of excellent baseball ops process and performance under Theo. They built up a minor league juggernaut (seriously check out the Sea Dogs 2005 roster - Paps, Lester, Annibal, Hanley, etc.) while still competing at the MLB level, then the plan came into place and they won 98 games and were great from start to finish.

It was kind of like how the 2001 Pats were an accident but by 2004 they were simply the best team. The 2004 Sox were no accident but they were more pieced together part by part vs 2007 being a well oiled machine.

 

[brienc]

I voted 2007 because it confirmed that 2004 was not a one off fluke (cough Cubs cough), and all the Yankees fans had to shove those 2090 shirts and hats where the sun don’t shine. But mostly the first part.

 

[Brianish]

Yes. 2007 was the culmination of 5 years of excellent baseball ops process and performance under Theo. They built up a minor league juggernaut (seriously check out the Sea Dogs 2005 roster - Paps, Lester, Annibal, Hanley, etc.) while still competing at the MLB level, then the plan came into place and they won 98 games and were great from start to finish.

96, but yes. The 2004 team won 98.

FTR, I voted 2013. It was my first year away from the northeast, and watching the Marathon Bombing and aftermath on TV, recognizing places I used to frequent, was... not easy. That team's ridiculously improbable run was magic from start to finish.

 

[Whoop-La White]

2004 left me astonished and euphoric. The other three years left me ... happy. I loved all of the teams for different reasons, but my state of mind was much different going into 2004 than it was for the others. It changed my perception of watching the Red Sox, which to that point had been clouded by a kind of imposter syndrome. It allowed me to go into those later years feeling confident about the team but not devastated if they lost (I thought they would lose to Cleveland in 2007, for example). It's nice to feel a bit of swagger, the kind that allows you to beat a team like Detroit in 2013 despite not being able to hit their starters. Having Ortiz for 2007 and 2013 certainly helped carry that feeling over.

 

[Hangdog Dane]

They were all special in their own unique ways but growing up and living in Upstate NY (still do) and having my first Fenway experience in '77 (8 years old), vividly remembering '78, using a transistor radio placed in a strategic spot high on a shelf to tune in WTNN out of Hartford Ct to hear the games on fuzzy AM radio (and needing a coat hanger antenna..) before Direct TV, and on and on through years of heartbreak, angst, disappointment of seeing favorite players seemingly be cast off due to their "twilight years", missed contract signings, and "grass is greener" free agent signings, the 2004 World Series was and is way more than just "winning a World Series championship" In my world, it was a seismic shift in thinking of baseball, the Red Sox, and quite frankly, life. I voted for 2004 because for me, there isn't any other answer that comes close. In saying all that, 2007 was a fantastic World Series and I could have possibly voted for it because it was the first time that my team was in the Series and it felt just like watching it as I would think non-Red Sox fans would watch their team, which in turn was fun, not complete panic and worry that I would never live to see the Sox hoist that trophy. I apologize for this rambling post but after reading the Sons of Sam Horn chats for well over 20 years, I wanted my first post to be meaningful to me.

 

[Margo McCready]

For me personally, 2004 cannot be topped. It wasn’t just what they did, it was how they did it. It was an exorcism. If it was a movie script, would it even be believable?

2007 was great because it cemented “we are for real” energy, like finally getting to sit at the adult table at Thanksgiving.

What can be more fun than an “Island of Misfit Toys” team shocking the world and taking a World Championship? Thinking about the 2013 takes me back to an argument my brother and I had during Spring Training; he was furious Cherington had assembled such a sad cast of washed up retreads. I, on the other hand, was optimistic those retreads would be valuable trade chips at the deadline, speeding up our return to respectability the following seasons. Then a miracle happened: we were both wrong. Also, fuck Bobby V

I couldn’t watch baseball for two years after the 2018 championship. It was too perfect. The video game dream season. A dominant beast of a team running roughshod over the league led by a mostly homegrown starting lineup of young superstars. 2018 called Bingo on the Red Sox team of my boyhood dreams. There was no longer any need for baseball having experienced it.

 

[ookami7m]

2004. The first child is always the most special.
2013. The child you had low expectations for because they ate crayons as a kid but turned out to be a doctor.
2018. The child who is beyond exceptional and makes you question if you’re the real father.
2007. The child that wasn’t really planned but was a great surprise and you love.

close the thread. This is exactly correct.

 

[Beale13]

I don't understand how anyone choosing a non-2004 team could have been alive in 2004 or old enough to understand 2004. There's one blemish on 2004 that's entirely retrospective, but other than that you couldn't have written a fictional script for that season with more emotion and thrills and drama.

 

[SemperFidelisSox]

The 2006 team went 86-76 and missed the playoffs. Lester got his cancer diagnosis towards the end of that season, Beckett struggled all year, Papelbon was shut down in September with a shoulder injury. Pedroia was a top prospect, but few could have imagined a Rookie of the Year season in 2007. There were definitely some questions heading into that season.

 

[tims4wins]

I don't understand how anyone choosing a non-2004 team could have been alive in 2004 or old enough to understand 2004. There's one blemish on 2004 that's entirely retrospective, but other than that you couldn't have written a fictional script for that season with more emotion and thrills and drama.

Favorite title and favorite team and favorite season can all have different meanings. I LOVED the 2003 team more than any of the title teams to be honest.

 

[Didot Fromager]

I checked off 2004 and given the choices, @SemperFidelisSox got it exactly right. But I have to give props to 1967 as my favorite Sox team of all time.

 

[Beale13]

Favorite title and favorite team and favorite season can all have different meanings. I LOVED the 2003 team more than any of the title teams to be honest.

I loved that team too. If I could've had the 2003 team on the field for everything that happened in 2004 I'd make that switch.. But still, the events of a season play too large part in defining a team for me to understand any non-2004 pick. Even with that team being dependent on a guy who turned out to be a hall-of-fame douchebag.

 

[Pablo's TB Lover]

Even if not for the drought, 2004 is still tops for me just based on the resiliency of the team coming out of 2003 which the ending to that season, injuries to tenured Sox like Trot which the relative newcomers made up for, trade of Nomar, the rise of Tito as a great manager and personality, etc etc.

For team personality groupings, 2004 & 2013 I both put in the "lovable idiots" category, and 2007 & 2018 I put in the "phenoms" category.

 

[Over Guapo Grande]

2004. The first child is always the most special.
2013. The child you had low expectations for because they ate crayons as a kid but turned out to be a doctor.
2018. The child who is beyond exceptional and makes you question if you’re the real father.
2007. The child that wasn’t really planned but was a great surprise and you love.

As the third child of 4, I approve of this post.

exit - the 2nd child in the family IS a doctor (though not the kind that my mom would brag about- his words) and my younger sibling was unplanned … so it really hits home

 

[Devizier]

@SemperFidelisSox nailed it already but I want to give love to the child that never was in 1999.

 

[Papo The Snow Tiger]

My initial reaction was to vote for 2004 as my favorite. Winning the 2004 World Series was cathartic: after all the disappointments of 1978, 1986 and 2003, after hearing "1918' over and over again, after seeing replays of Bucky Dent and Bill Buckner every time the Sox were in the playoffs or on national TV playing the MFY, we Sox fans could finally say we saw the Boston Red Sox win the World Series in our lifetime. And as other posters have said above both the 2007 and 2013 Red Sox teams had charms of their own and are remembered with fondness. But after thinking about it for a couple of hours I'd have to say the 2018 World Championship is the most satisfying and my favorite. The 2018 team had a home-grown nucleus (Mookie, X, JBJ, Benny, Raffy, etc.) that we got to see come up and mature as major leaguers. During the season I was also aware that it was exactly 40 years since the 1978 debacle, and the 2018 team accomplished what the 1978 Red Sox didn't. They had the best record in baseball. They didn't lose a one game playoff against the MFY, they beat them in a playoff series and advanced. Then they went on and beat the NL champion Dodgers in the World Series. I went back and changed my vote to 2018.

 

[simplicio]

 

[FlexFlexerson]

I voted 2007 because I was at Coors when they won it all and, well,. personally very hard to beat that. But, really, it's 2004 and will be forever.

 

[Farty Barrett]

2018

This was the season that turned my daughter into a Red Sox fan for life.
She was only 4, but knew the entire lineup and started asking all the good questions.

We watched from opening day to the Machado wiff together. Then we each got matching championship shirts. The Sox were the best all season long, and we were honored to watch them.

That season was just so special. She is 9 now, an All Star herself. She grumbles about FSG business decisions and under-performers like a seasoned Red Sox fan ought to.

My best Red Sox fan. It all started with 2018’s perfection.

 

[BigSoxFan]

I don’t get the comment about 2007. That was the best start to finish Sox team until 2018. Juggernaut. Built to win. Awesome personalities in Paps, Beckett, rookie Pedroia. Ellsbury. Peak Lowell. Youk. Oki. I loved that team. There is no question that the 2004 season was the most special. It can’t be argued. But the 2007 team was my favorite. Aside from Lugo!!!

I feel like 2007 title gets diluted because of the Pats chasing perfection and the Celtics’ Big 3 era getting started. They were really good and you kind of forget about them.

 

[Skiponzo]

There will never in my life be another sporting event that has the significance of 2004. I waited a lifetime for that event. It's the gift that never stops giving and will always be #1.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

2004 was obviously the ultimate payoff and the pinnacle, at the end, but the bulk of that season wasn’t super enjoyable. 2013 was so unexpected, and such a joy coming off Bobby V and had all the emotion with the marathon….2018 was just a methodical ass kicking all year long and the last dramatic, 2007 had the insane ALCS but an anti-climactic WS and was so soon after 04 to be as impactful.

All great, 04 was just something that none of the other can compare too, though. I think 2013 was probably the most fun and a team remembered more fondly than 07 or 18 just because it seemed like a sum is greater than its part thing- real team that caught lightning in a bottle.

 

[pedro1918]

I have told this story before, but here we go. At the parade in 2004 I bought two “2004 World Series Champions“ bumper stickers. I put one on the car I was driving and put the other in my fireproof safe for important documents. When that car died in 2015, I bought a new car and retrieved the “2004 World Series Champions“ bumper sticker from the safe and put it on my new car. I went on eBay and purchased two additional “2004 World Series Champions“ bumper stickers. They are in the safe.

 

[Rasputin]

How many of us cried after 07, 13, or 18?

2018 was a few months after my wife died. If we had lost, I’m not entirely sure I’d still be here.

 

[AlNipper49]

I hated every fucking second of 2004. It was what I was rooting for my entire life and I was miserable every second until they won it thinking that they’d find a way to blow it. When they won I was relieved, not happy.

The most important championship in my life with nothing even close. But not my favorite by far.

 

[Card042]

I myself would appreciate a word or two from the 1918 vote contingency, explaining their selection...having a laugh, 1918 button too close to the 2004 button, immortal vampires among us?

 

[Ferm Sheller]

I myself would appreciate a word or two from the 1918 vote contingency, explaining their selection...having a laugh, 1918 button too close to the 2004 button, immortal vampires among us?

It must be the site's Yankees fans.

 

[Scoops Bolling]

For me it's 2007. Pedey's my favorite player ever. Youk. Paps. Boston's own Manny Delcarmen! Appearances by Ellsbury, Lester, Buchholz, and more homegrown guys. Lugo was fun to rag on, and I was and remain an ardent JD Drew defender. Julian Tavarez' insanity. I eventually hated going to Dice-K games (he worked so damn slow), but that first season was wild. Just a fun team to watch all year long, with a great championship run, and none of the stresses of 2004 or 2013 and more of a feeling of "this can last" than 2018.

 

[Mugsy's Jock]

2004. The first child is always the most special.
2013. The child you had low expectations for because they ate crayons as a kid but turned out to be a doctor.
2018. The child who is beyond exceptional and makes you question if you’re the real father.
2007. The child that wasn’t really planned but was a great surprise and you love.

Beautifully done. I have nothing to add.

 

[donutogre]

I don’t get the comment about 2007. That was the best start to finish Sox team until 2018. Juggernaut. Built to win. Awesome personalities in Paps, Beckett, rookie Pedroia. Ellsbury. Peak Lowell. Youk. Oki. I loved that team. There is no question that the 2004 season was the most special. It can’t be argued. But the 2007 team was my favorite. Aside from Lugo!!!

I also loved the 2007 team, just a fucking blast across the board. It feels dumb to vote anything aside from 2004, but I also probably watched more of this team than any other just due to age and life circumstances, etc, and it was a wonderful ride.

 

[TomBrunansky23]

'13 forever. I only cried after one of them and that was it. I wanted it so badly for that group. I was also sad that it was over because it was an absolute joy to follow them every day ('18 was this way as well but different - they were just a baseball killing machine from start to finish). Also Koji. Have you ever felt better about anything in your life than you did about him coming in to close a game that year?

 

[BaseballJones]

'13 forever. I only cried after one of them and that was it. I wanted it so badly for that group. I was also sad that it was over because it was an absolute joy to follow them every day ('18 was this way as well but different - they were just a baseball killing machine from start to finish). Also Koji. Have you ever felt better about anything in your life than you did about him coming in to close a game that year?

I've done this before but your post inspired me to do it again. Here's the three Sox closers in the 2004, 2007, and 2018 playoff runs (no we're not including Kimbrel in 2018).

2004 Foulke - 11 g, 14.0 ip, 7 h, 1 r, 1 er, 8 bb, 19 k, 0.64 era, 1.07 whip, 12.2 k/9, 1-0, 3 sv
2007 Papelbon - 7 g, 10.2 ip, 5 h, 0 r, 0 er, 4 bb, 7 k, 0.00 era, 0.84 whip, 5.9 k/9, 1-0, 4 sv
2013 Koji - 13 g, 13.2 ip, 7 h, 1 r, 1 er, 0 bb, 16 k, 0.66 era, 0.51 whip, 10.5 k/9, 1-1, 7 sv

All three were absolutely unbelievable in those seasons. Hard to really say which one was the best. Foulke was the gutsiest and pitched the most per appearance. Papelbon simply did not give up any runs at all, though he pitched the least of the three. Koji was totally dominant and basically never let anyone get on base.

All three...just incredible.

 

[Jed Zeppelin]

2004 was obviously the ultimate payoff and the pinnacle, at the end, but the bulk of that season wasn’t super enjoyable. 2013 was so unexpected, and such a joy coming off Bobby V and had all the emotion with the marathon….2018 was just a methodical ass kicking all year long and the last dramatic, 2007 had the insane ALCS but an anti-climactic WS and was so soon after 04 to be as impactful.

All great, 04 was just something that none of the other can compare too, though. I think 2013 was probably the most fun and a team remembered more fondly than 07 or 18 just because it seemed like a sum is greater than its part thing- real team that caught lightning in a bottle.

I voted for 2013 almost entirely on the back of 3 moments:

• David Ortiz saying on live television "This is our fucking city" and being roundly praised instead of punished or criticized. A rare good call by all the adults in the room.
• David Ortiz shocking the team to life in ALCS Game 2 after Detroit's 1-2 punch had completely silenced the offense. Team looked fully DOA until that moment.
• Shane Victorino with one of the most euphoria-inducing home runs I have ever witnessed. To this day I still can't believe it. The Sons of Alan Trammell probably to this day seethe about that home run (and the Iggy error) the same way we seethe about Grady and Boone.

Edit to add on to the praise for Semper’s all-timer of a post.

 

[Rovin Romine]

2004. The first child is always the most special.
2013. The child you had low expectations for because they ate crayons as a kid but turned out to be a doctor.
2018. The child who is beyond exceptional and makes you question if you’re the real father.
2007. The child that wasn’t really planned but was a great surprise and you love.

Marvelous. You can retire now.

 

[PedroisGod]

2004 was not only the best story in the history of the franchise, not only in the history of baseball, but in the history of sport. There was nothing better, and never will be.

 

[BaseballJones]

2004 was not only the best story in the history of the franchise, not only in the history of baseball, but in the history of sport. There was nothing better, and never will be.

Someone should write a book about it!

 

[NextBigThing8184]

I’d be curious to see the age breakdown of fans who are choosing anything other than 2004. I know every fan experiences things differently but it sure is hard to imagine how any fan aged 40 or older could pick anything other than 2004.

the story of the 2003-2004 Sox teams, and to me it feels like one long story beginning with Theo picking up a bunch of spare parts (Ortiz, Mueller, the Millar saga, Giambi, Walker etc), cowboy up, the comeback against Oakland with so many memorable moments (Ortiz, Trot, Lowe), Grady/Pedro/Boone, Francona, the thanksgiving Schilling deal, Foulke, disappointment, Jeter diving into the stands and Nomar sulking, the west coast trip where we started believing and then the epic playoff run….I really can’t imagine anything more special or compelling in Boston sports (or all of American sports) history. It played out like a Hollywood movie

as dominant as the 2018 team was, or as scrappy as the 2013 bearded brothers were, or the well oiled machine of 2007, I probably have fewer special memories combined of those 3 teams than I do of the last 4.5 months of the 2004 season. Names like Leskanic and Tony Clark are seared into my memory bank while I struggle to name the 25 guys on the 2007 team let alone name important memories of them. 17 years (?!) later I could probably name 5 guys easily off the Sox 2007 playoff opponents’ rosters but I can rattle off the Yankees entire postseason roster and starting lineup.

of the other 3, I’d go with 2013. Loved that collection of random guys, and the ALCS was some of the best baseball I’ve seen since 2004.

 

[PedroisGod]

The 2004 story is so storybook that if somebody had written that story it would seem
too unbelievable.

 

[Over Guapo Grande]

I voted for 2013 almost entirely on the back of 3 moments:

• David Ortiz saying on live television "This is our fucking city" and being roundly praised instead of punished or criticized. A rare good call by all the adults in the room.
• David Ortiz shocking the team to life in ALCS Game 2 after Detroit's 1-2 punch had completely silenced the offense. Team looked fully DOA until that moment.
• Shane Victorino with one of the most euphoria-inducing home runs I have ever witnessed. To this day I still can't believe it. The Sons of Alan Trammell probably to this day seethe about that home run (and the Iggy error) the same way we seethe about Grady and Boone.

My favorite picture comes from the 2013 WS... three little birds: