The story of the 2004 Boston Red Sox is one of the most historic and often-told in sports history.
And that’s rightfully so, but is there a time where the legend of this team needs time to step back and breathe?
That Red Sox team deserves to be celebrated forever for an unprecedented comeback to win an invaluable championship for an entire region. That doesn’t mean it needs to be referenced every single chance possible, though this week is worth the discussion as the Red Sox and the New York Yankees meet in the playoffs in the 2025 American League Wild Card Series.
The 2004 ALCS in particular, when Boston came back from a 3-0 series deficit to eliminate New York, earned star treatment through a previous ESPN series “Four Days In October” as well as the 2024 Netflix series “The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox” last fall.
Apparently, those weren’t enough as ESPN dove back into the story with the new docuseries, “Believers,” that premiered on ESPN platforms on Sunday.
The network brought out the Hollywood stars to play into the cinematic feel of the pieces with Boston figureheads Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Sports personality and former ESPN host Katie Nolan also gave an interview along with The Athletic’s Red Sox columnist Steve Buckley. Members of the 2004 team including Johnny Damon, Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Kevin Millar and Bronson Arroyo also shared their accounts of the memorable postseason.
The player angles reinforced the reality of just how unlikely Boston’s comeback truly was. Local media and thinkers added to the emotions of the New England region during the period.
What made for a different approach to production in the piece was a 150-minute product across three episodes that give a lengthy history of the franchise as well as Boston’s progression in American history. ESPN prioritized a philosophical, mythological take that added a new spin on a prominent story, though it lengthened the piece to a potentially unnecessary degree.
All of those factors are essential in the impact of 2004, though that complete story has been told in far tighter windows in other projects.
ESPN and the interviewees did a solid job retelling the greatest story in Boston sports history, so the project deserves praise. With that said, the question is fair to ask how many more projects would overflow and take away the shine of the story itself.