By Alex Garrett (10/2/25)
For the first time since game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, the Yankees have a chance to put away the Red Sox in the postseason. I’ve never really divulged this but I have always felt responsible for the Yanks 2004 collapse! Let me tell you why.
You see, 2004 was an era when my dad thought i cared so much about the Yanks and not my own life. Personally, I knew it was a school night that fateful Sunday evening of game 4. However, I wanted to see Mariano Rivera complete the save, close the series and bring us back to the WORLD SERIES! I was even laying in bed watching with eager 12 year old eyes . I think we all were hyped the Yanks went up 3-0 and in the fashion of putting up 19 RUNS in game 3! At FENWAY! Everything was moving in our direction. Especially with MO ON THE MOUND!
Then, Roberts stole the base. I really could not help but watch the slow-moving train crash that followed as the Red Sox of course win game 4 and the rest is history. If only I had turned my TV off before that stolen base!
For 21 years, I’ve internalized the blame for the Yankees 2004 collapse, but writing it out on this platform feels cathartic! Maybe it’s also because it’s Yom Kippur and today is a day for atonement as well! I had just been Bar Mitzvah’d prior to that 2004 postseason as well. So the nostalgia is real for me tonight .
I will say the fact the Yanks had such a gutsy win to tie up the 2025 Wild Card series feels like a moment of healing a wound that we have all had since 2004! It feels like are on the cusp of a 2003 ALCS BOONE moment, doesn’t it? Wells’s clutch RBI single and JAZZ MOTORING ALL THE WAY HOME FROM FIRST was just the Start!
Sure, we lost to Boston in the 2018 ALDS and the 2021 WC game but it felt we didn’t have a chance either time . Tonight, with Cam Schlittler on the mound , there is a real chance to knock out Boston!
Also, in 2025, with the Grisham lineup, we can finally seal the deal against the Sox and reverse the curse that has lingered over our heads for 21 years. While the Yanks won in 09 and got back in 2024 to the World Series, there is still this lingering 2004 feeling we have yet to overcome the Red Sox. Tonight is the chance to finally kick the Red Sox out of the postseason. Especially since their bullpen was completely ran through in game 2!
Beating Boston, in my view, would help resume the business of winning the World Series again consistently! It would bring, as my Aunt Shelley would say, KHARMIC RELIEF!
In 2025, I will not be turning off the TV in fact we might actually be there for game 3! Thanks for letting me write this out and may tonight heal 12 year old Alex’s guilt and rejuvenate 33 year old Alex’s soul as well as the entire soul of the REPBX COMMUNITY!
OneLegUpAlex 