2007 World Series Totally Explained

Everything about 2007 World Series totally explained

The 2007 World Series, the 103rd edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, began on Wednesday, October 24 and ended on Sunday, October 28.
It featured the National League champion Colorado Rockies—making their first World Series appearance—and the American League champion Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox won the Series in four games, sweeping the Rockies to collect their second World Series championship in four seasons and their seventh overall; it also marked the third sweep in four years by the AL champion. Terry Francona became the second Red Sox manager to win two World Series titles, joining Bill Carrigan, who won the 1915 and 1916 Series. Including the last three games of the ALCS, the Red Sox outscored their opposition 59–15 over their final seven games. The Rockies, meanwhile, became the first National League team to get swept in a World Series after sweeping the League Championship Series, and just the second team ever to suffer such a fate (1990 Oakland Athletics).

Background

The Rockies entered the Series having won 21 of their last 22 games, going back to the end of the regular season, including sweeps of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS and the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. They also beat the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card tiebreaker. The Red Sox swept the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALDS and defeated the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS after trailing three games to one, taking the final three contests by a combined score of 30–5. Neither participating team was in the previous year's postseason. The Rockies 8-day layoff was the most in MLB history, caused by their sweep in the NLCS, the ALCS going 7 games, and scheduling by the MLB.
Per the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Red Sox had home field advantage in the World Series following the American League's 5–4 win in the 2007 All-Star Game. The first two games took place in Boston, with Games 3 and 4 in Denver.

On television

The World Series was televised by FOX, with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver as booth announcers. The Series was broadcast nationally on ESPN Radio, with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan as booth announcers. The starting time for each television broadcast was 8:00 pm EDT/6:00 pm MDT. Rogers Sportsnet (RSN) in Canada used the MLB International feed with Dave O'Brien and Rick Sutcliffe as booth announcers. NASN showed the games live to most of Europe, while in the UK, all games were shown terrestrially on Five. NHK aired the Series in Japan.

Series matchups

Boston won series 4–0

Game	Date	Score	Attendance	Location
1	October 24	Colorado 1 at Boston 13	36,733	Fenway Park
2	October 25	Colorado 1 at Boston 2	36,730	Fenway Park
3	October 27	Boston 10 at Colorado 5	49,983	Coors Field
4	October 28	Boston 4 at Colorado 3	50,041	Coors Field
Boston Red Sox win 4–0

Game 1, October 24

Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
The Red Sox cruised to a blowout win in Game One behind ALCS MVP Josh Beckett who struck out nine batters—including the first four he faced—en route to his fourth win of the postseason (sixth overall) . Rookie Dustin Pedroia led off the Red Sox first inning with a home run just over the Green Monster in Fenway Park (just the second lead-off home run in a World Series Game One—the first since 1969). Boston scored two other runs in the inning which proved to be all the runs they'd need. The game got away from Colorado in the fifth inning thanks to the final six of Boston's 17 hits and three bases-loaded walks. The Red Sox accumulated a Game One-record 13 runs and tied a World Series record with nine extra base hits.

Game 2, October 25

Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
After the debacle of Game 1, Colorado appeared to return to form, scoring quickly on a groundout by Todd Helton. However, postseason veteran Curt Schilling (5⅓ IP, 1 run, 4 hits) and Boston's bullpen (Okajima, 2⅓ IP; Papelbon, 1⅓ IP) allowed no other runs in the contest. Mike Lowell's RBI double gave Boston the lead after Jason Varitek's sacrifice fly had tied the game in the middle innings. Matt Holliday had four of Colorado's five hits in Game Two, including a base hit off Papelbon with two outs in the 8th. Before throwing another pitch, Papelbon caught Holliday leaning too far off first base and picked him off—Papelbon's first career pickoff.

Game 3, October 27

Coors Field, Denver, Colorado
This was the first World Series game ever played in Colorado. At 4 hours 19 minutes, it became the longest nine-inning game in World Series history. The Red Sox struck first with a six-run 3rd inning highlighted by rookie Jacoby Ellsbury hitting two doubles in the same inning. Starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched 5 innings of scoreless ball and left in the sixth with no runs allowed. As part of the six-run 3rd inning, Matsuzaka helped himself with a bases loaded two-RBI single. It was his first base hit and RBI in the Major Leagues. Colorado starter Josh Fogg was taken out of the game after just 2⅔ IP. The Rockies' bats came to life in the 6th and 7th innings against a normally solid but shaky Boston bullpen. Regular Season NL MVP candidate Matt Holliday brought the Rockies to within one run of the lead with a three-run home run off Hideki Okajima. Rookies Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, who had four and three hits, respectively, on the night—the first time in World Series history two rookies each had at least three hits in a game—would get those runs back for the Red Sox in the top of the 8th, scoring Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp on back-to-back RBI doubles, raising Boston's lead to 9–5. Jonathan Papelbon came on for a 4-out save, getting Holliday to fly out on one pitch, leaving runners on 1st and 2nd. Jason Varitek would tack on Boston's 10th run in the top of the 9th with a sacrifice fly, scoring Mike Lowell who, not generally considered a stolen base threat, had just stolen third base—the first time a Red Sox baserunner stole 3rd base in the World Series since 1975. Papelbon came back out in the bottom of the 9th to complete the save, getting the first two outs before surrendering a 2-out triple to Brad Hawpe, then finishing the game with a groundout from Yorvit Torrealba. The Red Sox took Game Three by a final of 10–5.
The Red Sox continued to set World Series records during Game Three:

Ellsbury (four hits) and Pedroia (three) combined to score three runs and drive in four, while being the first rookies to bat 1–2 in a World Series lineup.

Ellsbury became the third rookie in Series history with four hits in a game, joining Fred Lindstrom of the New York Giants (Game 5, 1924) and Joe Garagiola of the Cardinals (Game 4, 1946).

Matsuzaka became the first Japanese pitcher to start and win a World Series game. The only pitchers in Red Sox history, other than Matsuzaka, to have two RBI and be the winning pitcher were Babe Ruth in 1918 and Cy Young in 1903.

The Red Sox' 16 doubles tied a World Series record, set by the 1982 Cardinals. The Red Sox would break the record in Game 4, finishing with 18.

Game 4, October 28

Coors Field, Denver, Colorado
The Boston Red Sox struck offensively early in the game. Boston Rookie Jacoby Ellsbury began the 1st inning with a double and was advanced by Dustin Pedroia with a groundout, followed by an RBI single from David Ortiz. In the seventh inning, series MVP Mike Lowell hit a home run to give Boston a 3–0 lead. The Colorado Rockies offense answered with a home run off of a Manny Delcarmen fastball, bringing the Rockies within two. Relief pitcher Brian Fuentes gave back that run abruptly, allowing Boston pinch-hitter Bobby Kielty to hit a ball into the left field stands on the first pitch of the inning, extending the Red Sox lead to 4–1. In the next inning Boston Red Sox pitcher Hideki Okajima allowed a one-out single to Todd Helton followed by a Garrett Atkins 2-run home run, bringing the Rockies within one. Jonathan Papelbon relieved Okajima and earned his third save of the series. At 12:06 am EDT on Monday, October 29, Papelbon struck out Colorado pinch hitter Seth Smith for the final out of the 2007 World Series. Boston had won its second World Series title in four years and seventh all-time.

Composite box

Ticket controversy

On October 17, 2007, a week before the first game of the World Series, the Colorado Rockies announced that tickets would be made available to the general public via online sales only, despite prior arrangements to sell the tickets at local retail outlets. Five days later, California-based ticket vendor Paciolan, Inc., the sole contractor authorized by the Colorado Rockies to distribute tickets, was forced to suspend sales after less than an hour due to an exorbitant number of purchase attempts.

The Rockies organization said that they were the victims of a denial-of-service attack; The FBI has started its own investigation into these claims. Ticket sales resumed the next day, with all three home games selling out within 2½ hours.

The Red Sox also relied primarily on online sales to sell the game tickets, although some Fenway Park tickets were sold on the phone and at the box office. The Sox held a random drawing for the right to buy post season tickets on October 15, and winners bought tickets at a private online sale. Street prices were lower in Boston this time than in 2004: the average price, according to StubHub, was about $1500 in 2007, down about $300 from three years previously. Some Sox fans found that it was cheaper to travel to Denver to see World Series games than to pay the street price for Boston game tickets.

Celebration

While the celebratory crowd at Kenmore Square wasn't as unruly as had been the case in 2004, cars were overtipped and 37 arrests were made. The Red Sox victory parade, yet again called a "Rolling Rally" as in 2004, was on October 30, 2007 with closer Jonathan Papelbon doing his infamous "Riverdance" while local punk band the Dropkick Murphys played their hit "I'm Shipping Up to Boston"

Series quotes

Rosters

2007 Colorado Rockies World Series roster
Active (25-man) roster				Inactive (40-man) roster		Coaches/Other
Starting rotation Bullpen (CL) † 15-day disabled list Roster updated 2007-10-23 Transactions • Depth chart		Catchers Infielders Outfielders		Pitchers Catchers Infielders Outfielders		Manager Coaches (strength) (pitching) (hitting) (third base) (first base) (bullpen) (bench) (bullpen catcher) 60-day disabled list Suspended list Currently vacant

2007 Boston Red Sox World Series roster
Active (25-man) roster				Inactive (40-man) roster		Coaches/Other
Starting rotation Bullpen (CL) † 15-day disabled list Roster updated 2007-10-23 Transactions • Depth Chart		Catchers Infielders Outfielders Designated hitters		Pitchers Catchers Infielders Outfielders		Manager Coaches (First Base) (Pitching) (Third Base) (Hitting) (Bench) (Bullpen) 60-day disabled list Suspended list Currently vacant

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