"The Comeback" Docuseries: A Team of Destiny
A Sportsish Review
The 2004 World Series Champions (Getty Images)
The MLB season finished only last week, but we already feel the baseball withdrawals. It was an incredible spectacle from both the Dodgers and the Yankees, a reminder of all the amazing things we love about the sport. The Dodgers led the series from the beginning, with a 3-0 record that seemed to indicate it was almost a done deal. But if baseball history has taught us anything, it is never to count the Yankees out so quickly, who managed to win Game 4 and keep their hopes alive. With the Dodgers coming from behind stronger than ever at the end of Game 5, New York's championship dreams ended abruptly, making the whole series a true spectacle to watch.
If you're also missing the ballpark fun and are as obsessed as we are with watching once-in-a-lifetime events, we found the perfect way to deal with the post-season blues. Netflix recently released the documentary "The Comeback: Boston Red Sox 2004," which follows the truly inspiring way the Red Sox broke an 86-year-old "curse" to win a championship.
The three-part series brilliantly documents how everything the '04 Red Sox achieved goes beyond what happened on the pitch. 2003 was a metamorphic year for them when the team was sold to a new owner, thus getting new management as well. The pressure that inevitably comes with a new administration, added to the expectations of getting over their recent failures, was only exacerbated by the fact that the "Curse of the Bambino" had been haunting them for 85 years. The urban legend allegedly started when the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1918, where he went on to win 5 World Series. However, the Red Sox only came close 4 times but hadn't won a single championship since then.
Babe Ruth joined the Red Sox in 1914 (Wikimedia)
Theo Epstein became the youngest ever to be General Manager in the MLB when he took over the Red Sox, but all the talking didn't faze him. After all, he had a vision for the team and always kept believing his players could fulfill it. If anything, the documentary feels like watching a perfectly-written sports comedy, where the characters go through unimaginable struggles that only bring them closer together and help them achieve their goal, finding their happily ever after.
It seemed like they could be close to breaking the "Curse of the Bambino" when they got to the 2004 ALCS finals against their old rivals, the Yankees. However, hope was almost gone when the Boston locals lost the series' first three games. No team had ever come back from a 0-3 deficit, which convinced everyone this time would be no different; the curse existed for a reason. But like every good script, the squad had all the main character energy needed to rewrite history. If any team was gonna overcome a decades-long curse, it had to be this one.
They had Kevin Millar, the bodacious first baseman whose vocabulary doesn't know the word "surrender." With his big personality and rambunctious claims, he became the comedic relief the team needed to keep the spirits high while going through the game's lows. Pedro Martinez was their fearless pitcher, with excellent precision, and he sometimes used it as a warning sign to anyone who dared come for him or his teammates. Then you had 'Big Papi,' David Ortiz, whose homer hits during Game 4 and 5 became the key to keeping the team's chances alive, leading them to the unprecedented win. Once the team got to Game 6, Curt Schilling became the last piece in this puzzle to success. His resilience is rarely matched, as he pitched through a torn tendon in his ankle just to ensure he fulfilled his duties with the team first, the bleeding in his ankle taking a backseat while he cured his team's cursed ailments first.
Red Sox win the World Series for the first time in 86 years (AP Photo)
Any franchise can get elite players, which, of course, would be the obvious answer to the question of what is needed to win. But these Bo Sox had a better competitive edge: heart. The eagerness to leave it all on the pitch, regardless of the opponent. The group quickly bonded over a shared inner flame, a fire ignited by the underdog expectations that came with an imposed myth. The documentary captures how it started with wanting to beat these allegations but ended up being about accomplishing it together. Red Sox Manager Terry Francona was the maestro who orchestrated this team to play a beautiful symphony out on the field, allowing them to become the first and only team returning from a 0-3 deficit in the MLB playoffs. As he perfectly put it:
"It doesn't happen overnight, or it wouldn't mean anything. But when it happens, it's f***ing unbelievable."