The Story Of The First Team To Come Back From A 3-0 Playoff Deficit

Boston is the greatest sports city on the planet, boasting storied franchises in all three of the major North American sports. Winning 12 combined championships since the turn of the century, Boston sports teams have certainly spoiled college-aged fans like myself. The names “Title-Town” and “City of Champions” are synonymous with the city of Boston at this point but very few remember the darker times of the City on a Hill; back before the Curse of the Bambino was broken. That’s why I am writing this blog down 3-0: to remind every dejected Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown fan of the time the Boston Red Sox pulled off the greatest comeback in all of sports.

You see, the Sox had played the Yanks 19 times during the ‘04 regular season. They knew what they had to do to beat them. They knew A-Rod would be hot and knew not to throw it down the middle to Gary Sheffield. They just didn’t do it for the first three games of the ALCS, resulting in 32 Yankees runs in three games and an absolute blowout 19-8 loss in Game 3.

A disclaimer is necessary because a 19-8 loss in baseball is equivalent to a 128-102 blowout in basketball in my eyes. Both teams suffered a collective mental collapse from top to bottom.

Regardless, the Red Sox made one critical change heading into Game 4 that would go on to forever change the history of the MLB. Hall of Famer David “Big Papi” Ortiz and former ‘04 teammate Tim Wakefield are adamant that their success came from a collective shift in mindset.

“They’ve [the Celtics] got to have somebody like we had with Kevin Millar, to step up and say: ‘Don’t let us win tonight,’ said Wakefield. “That actually changed our whole demeanor. When we walked into the clubhouse for Game 4, we thought we were done.”

Ortiz echoed this sentiment but took it a step further, explaining what happened once the players walked down into the clubhouse. “There’s no room for negativity once you get there. Every single thought has to be in a positive way, every single one, so you can bounce out of it.” He explained in an interview how the team’s mindset shifted from “never to never” to “get to it.”

That mentality certainly paid off. Heading into the bottom of the 9th down 4-3, the Sox had to put up a run against the greatest closer in MLB history: Mariano Rivera.

In the blink of an eye, Rivera walked Millar who led the batting order for Boston. Dave Roberts ran for Millar and stole second on the next play before being driven home by a game tying single by Bill Mueller. A sacrifice fly by Mientkieticz and a Cabrera strikeout ended the inning.

The game continued for three more innings before being ended by David motherfucking Ortiz.

In the bottom of the 12th, Big Papi smashed the living daylights out of Paul Quantrill’s fastball, scoring a two-run homer to win the game. The Sox would then go on to sweep the Cardinals and win the World Series for the first time in 86 years.

Of course, the questions that now looms is whether or not this Celtics team is capable of recreating the success of the 2004 Red Sox. Call it wishful thinking. Call it highly improbable. But the last thing in the world I want to hear is that it is impossible. Joe Mazzulla preparing his team instead of watching The Town 50 times a week: impossible. Ime Udoka keeping his dick in his pants: impossible.

The Boston Celtics becoming the first NBA team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs: GUARENTEED if every player steps up and adopts the ‘04 Red Sox’s winning mentality. No team has been able to recreate the reverse sweep in a conference finals since, but it was 19 years since the Red Sox did it and they had 19 runs scored on them in Game 3. Coincidence? I think not.

Here's NESN's documentary on the 2004 Red Sox Comeback. I watched it twice already and wore the lucky Kyrie shirt both times. I feel a dubski tonight.