The Athletic’s Tim Britton ranked the top 25 MLB games of the 2000s this week — and three classic Red Sox playoff games made the list.
Boston’s 6-5 win in Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS over the Tigers — which included David Ortiz’s iconic, eighth-inning game-tying grand slam off Joaquin Benoit — ranked 20th. The Sox’ Game 4, season-saving win in Game 4 of the 2024 ALCS — the Dave Roberts steal game — ranked eighth. And a loss actually was the highest-ranking game as Britton put the 2003 ALCS Game 7 loss, with Aaron Boone’s walk-off homer capping it, as the fifth-best game since 2000. Here’s what he wrote about that game:
Not only were the Red Sox going to stun their archrivals in the Bronx in a Game 7, but they were also going to do it with Pedro Martínez on the mound to beat Roger Clemens. But just when it looked like Boston could really finish it off, the Yankees roared back.
Aided by a pair of Jason Giambi homers and long relief from Mike Mussina, New York entered the eighth down 5-2, with Martínez still on the mound. With one out, a Derek Jeter double and Bernie Williams single scored one run and brought Grady Little to the mound. Martínez was at 115 pitches and lefty Alan Embree was ready in the pen. Little stuck with his ace — a move so bold it would have gotten “First Take” to talk about baseball, had the show existed at the time — only for Martínez to allow consecutive doubles to Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada to tie the score.
Rivera tossed three scoreless innings — his longest outing since he’d been a set-up man seven years earlier — to get the Yankees to the 11th. That’s when Aaron Boone took Tim Wakefield, a hero earlier in the series for the Sox, deep to left to win the pennant.
