During his tenure with the Boston Red Sox, Derek Lowe evolved from a league leader in saves to a pivotal starter on the 2004 team that famously ended the Curse of the Bambino. As he shared in a recent conversation, that franchise remained his favorite to play for after winning it all during one of baseball’s most romanticized postseason runs.
In October of that year, the Red Sox stunned their archrivals, the New York Yankees, by rallying from a 3-0 series deficit to claim the pennant, then swept the St. Louis Cardinals to deliver Boston its first World Series title in 86 years. While the city has celebrated championships since, no team has captured fans’ hearts quite like that iconic “Fever Pitch” squad.
Ahead of the 2026 American Century Championship set for July 8-12, I sat down with Lowe to discuss his crucial role on the 2004 Red Sox. He was the winning pitcher in the ALDS, ALCS, and World Series clinchers, including Game 7 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium and Game 4 of the World Series at Busch Stadium. We also touched on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ dominance, the biggest changes in MLB since his playing days, the current state of the Red Sox, and—almost regrettably—the rapid ascent of Banana Ball.
On starting Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS at Yankee Stadium:
“You’d much rather play than watch. Games 5 and 6, not being able to influence the outcome as a player, were more nerve-racking. But when you actually get to compete, you get excited. It was an opportunity I’d never had before, and I figured it might never come again. Doing it against New York… We had 365 days of incredible baseball dating back to 2003. We thought we had Game 7, and they brought champagne into our locker room… we all know how that ended. Then losing Game 3 to the Yankees 19-8 in ’04, you never imagined reaching Game 7. People say it’s cliché to take it one game at a time, but in the back of your mind you wonder, ‘How can we beat this team three straight days?’ It was a chance I tried to cherish.”
“I won’t lie, we jumped to a 6-0 lead through two innings, which certainly helped. Johnny Damon had an amazing series. Pitching at Yankee Stadium carried so much history and great memories… I just tried to enjoy it. I know it sounds silly, but I was a free agent that year, so I knew it would be my last season with the Red Sox, and my last time pitching against the Yankees for Boston. That gave me extra incentive to perform well. Still, it was the longest day of my life. Everyone woke up early, pacing around, trying to avoid negative thoughts. But once we got to the ballpark and felt the energy, the crowd was incredible, and we had so much momentum.”
“It’s crazy how three days can change everything. If you saw our locker room after Game 3, you’d never think we could pull it off. It all came down to confidence. Did we win it, or did they choke? I have no idea. They had four or five guys hitting .400