In 2004, the Red Sox became the first (and still the only) team to come back from three games to none in a best of seven series, defeating their arch-rivals the Yankees. This Red Sox team referred to themselves as "The Idiots."

For many decades the Sox could never win the biggest games, and many attributed this to "The Curse of the Bambino" (after they sold Babe Ruth, "The Bambino" to the Yankees in 1919). Following the 2004 ALCS over the Yankees, the Sox swept the World Series against the Cardinals to become champions for the first time since 1918.