The ten greatest moments of David Ortiz’s Red Sox career

The situation: Game 5, 2008 ALCS, Rays lead the series 3-1

The moment: Ortiz’s three-run home run leads one of the best single-game comebacks in playoff history

Of all the great seasons of Ortiz’s career, 2008 was not one of them. A wrist injury limited him to just 109 games, and his production when he was healthy was very un-Papi-like. His 23 home runs would end up being a career-low, while his .264 average was nearly a 70-point drop from 2007.

Despite Ortiz’s down season, the Red Sox still managed to win 95 games and grab the Wild Card. They defeated the Angels in four games in the ALDS, again without much contribution from Ortiz (.235 average, one extra-base-hit), but fell behind the Rays 3-1 in the ALCS.

With memories of the 2004 and the 2007 ALCS still fresh in the minds of both the Red Sox and Rays, however, it was well understood that the series was far from over.

The Rays pounded Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka, jumping the ace for five runs over four innings. When the Rays extended the lead to 7-0 in the seventh, it looked like the comeback kings would finally fall short.

The Red Sox offense would finally wake up in the bottom of the seventh, getting on the scoreboard on an RBI single from Dustin Pedroia. That brought Ortiz to the plate with two on and two out, the Red Sox still one big hit away from getting back in the game. Ortiz, of course, would deliver, driving a three-run shot deep into the right-field corner to bring the score the 7-4.

With all the momentum now on their side, the Red Sox would finish the miraculous comeback. A J.D Drew eight-inning home run brought the score within one, and a Coco Crisp RBI single tied the game at 7. Drew would come through again in the ninth, driving a ground-rule double into the right-field bullpen to win the game and extend the series.

Though the Red Sox would go on to lose the series, this moment is arguably the most underrated of Ortiz’s career. As Manny Ramirez would once say, “I guess, you know, when you don’t feel good, and you still get hits, that’s when you know you are a bad man.” Ortiz’s ability to come through in the clutch even when he was not at his best is one of the many reasons he is a Hall of Famer.

The situation: September 27, 2006

The moment: Ortiz’s 51st home run of the year breaks Jimmie Foxx’s Red Sox single-season record

For 68 years, the Red Sox single-season home run record was held by Jimmie “The Beast” Foxx. Foxx’s 50 home runs during the 1938 campaign were not approached even by the legendary sluggers who wore the Red Sox uniform after him: Not by Carl Yastrzemski, not by Jim Rice, not even by “the greatest hitter who ever lived” Ted Williams.

It didn’t look like Ortiz would be able to break Foxx’s record either. Sure, he was hitting home runs at a near league-leading rate, but he was well off Foxx’s pace after only five long balls in May. It took until July for Ortiz to really get going. His fourteen home runs in the month brought his season total to 37, putting him well in a position to reach Foxx’s mark.

Ortiz kept up the pace in August, smacking ten more longballs and leaving him just three back of the record. With the Red Sox well out of the postseason race, the fans could focus all their attention on Ortiz’s pursuit of history. Though he would miss the first week of September with an irregular heartbeat, Ortiz went into a late-season series with the Twins standing on 49 home runs.

Ortiz tied the record with a home run in the opener, and a packed house entered Fenway Park for the middle game looking for Big Papi to hit his record-setting 51st home run.

They wouldn’t have to wait long, as Ortiz launched Cy Young winner Johan Santana’s pitch into the right-field seats. He would hit another in the game and three more on the season, giving him 54 home runs for a franchise record that still stands today.

The situation: June 11- July 31, 2006

The moment: The king of clutch hits five walk-offs in less than two months

Nobody was better with the game on the line than Ortiz. Over the course of his career, he delivered a whopping 23 walk-off hits. Incredibly, nearly a quarter of these occurred in less than two months, as Ortiz collected five walk-off hits over six weeks in 2006.

Ortiz’s unbelievable streak of clutchness began on a mid-June affair against the Rangers. Down to their final out and trailing by two, the big DH launched a home run off closer Akinori Otsuka to give the Red Sox an improbable 5-4 win. Ortiz’s next walk-off home run would come less than two weeks later when his blast off old nemesis Tom Gordon broke a 3-3 tie in the tenth.

It took just two days for Ortiz to tally another walk-off hit. With Kevin Youkilis standing on second and the score knotted at seven, Papi lined a single to centerfield to walk off the Phillies for the second time in the series.

The Angels would be the next Ortiz walk-off victim, as his 12th inning seeing-eye single chased home Alex Gonzalez to give the Red Sox a 7-6 victory.

Ortiz saved his most heroic walk-off for last. With the Red Sox trailing 8-6 in the ninth inning and facing phenom closer Fausto Carmona, the big lefty deposited a 2-0 pitch into the centerfield seats to complete his record-setting summer of hitting. In a career defined by big hits in big spots, this six-week span was arguably his pinnacle of clutchness.

The situation: September 12th, 2015

The moment: Ortiz’s fifth-inning blast off Matt Moore makes him the 27th player in MLB history to hit 500 home runs

Few members of the 500 home run club were more unlikely than Ortiz. The future legend was just a role-player during his time with the Twins, playing over 100 games just once in his first five seasons.

When he arrived in Boston in 2003, he was a 27-year-old with just 58 career home runs. Nobody would have guessed that he would one day join one of the most exclusive clubs in baseball history. Yet Ortiz developed into one of the most fearsome sluggers of his generations, and he entered 2015 with 466 home runs

The 2015 season was a bit of a renaissance for Ortiz. Though he got off to a rocky start, batting just .231 with 15 home runs in the first half, he caught fire in the second half and ended the season with his highest home run total since 2006. As he piled up the long balls, 500 home runs came into sight, and it became a matter of when he would reach the milestone, not if.

Ortiz would accomplish the feat on a Saturday night in Tampa Bay. He actually entered the game sitting on 498 home runs, but a first-inning three-run shot off Rays starter Matt Moore brought him to within one.

Papi would face Moore again in the fifth inning and launched a hanging curveball into the right-field seats. A player who did not get his first full-time role until age 27 had become the 27th player in MLB history to reach the 500 home run plateau.

The Red Sox poured out of the dugout to greet their franchise icon, while the many Sox fans in attendance gave Ortiz a standing ovation. Much like the 2006 season, the Red Sox being out of the postseason race allowed the fans and media to focus their attention on Ortiz’s pursuit of history, and Big Papi, of course, came through.

The situation: 2003 ALDS Game 4, Athletics lead series 2-1

The moment: Ortiz’s two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning gives the Red Sox the lead for good

Before Ortiz had solidified himself as one of the greatest playoff hitters of all time, he was arguably a postseason goat. He began his first postseason series with the Red Sox by going 0-for-9 with four strikeouts in the first two games of the 2003 ALDS, both Red Sox losses.

The Red Sox were able to grind out a victory in Game 3 even though Ortiz had another 0-for-4 day. By the time he strode to the plate with two on and two out in the bottom of the eighth, Ortiz was mired in a 0-for-16 slump.

Game 4 of the 2003 ALDS was a classic back-and-forth affair. The Athletics scored first on an RBI single by Jermaine Dye, but Red Sox starter John Burkett escaped the bases-loaded, no-out jam with three straight pop-ups.

The Sox jumped ahead in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run shot by Johnny Damon, but the A’s took the lead right back on a triple by Adam Melhuse and a two-run homer by Jermaine Dye. Boston cut the lead to one on a solo bomb from Todd Walker but still trailed 4-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth.

Only six outs away from their first ALCS appearance since 1992, the Athletics went for the kill, bringing in closer Keith Foulke for the two-inning save. After Damon grounded to short for the first out, Nomar Garciaparra launched a fly ball off the top of the Green Monster.

Foulke induced a fly ball to center from Walker for the second out and had no choice but to intentionally walk Manny Ramirez to bring up the struggling Ortiz.

With a memorable, historic season on the verge of slipping away, Ortiz would deliver. He smacked a fly ball over the head of Dye to bring home both Nomar and Ramirez and give the Red Sox a 5-4 lead they would not relinquish.

The shot of Ortiz pointing to the Red Sox dugout while the Fenway crowd went ballistic behind him would be the first memorable image of his immortal career.

The situation: 2004 ALDS Game 3, Red Sox lead series 2-0

The moment: Ortiz’s tenth-inning home run sends the Red Sox to the ALCS

The Red Sox went into the 2004 ALDS with every expectation of steamrolling the Angels. The team had caught fire in August, going on a 20-2 run and running away with the AL Wild Card. That stretch included a three-game sweep against these same Angels in which the Red Sox scored a combined 26 runs.

Though the division-winning Angels were an excellent team in their own right, every expectation was that the Red Sox would once against meet the Yankees in the ALCS.

Sure enough, the Red Sox won the first two games in Anaheim, jumping all over ace Jarrod Washburn in Game One and mounting a comeback against Bartolo Colon in Game Two.

The scene shifted to Fenway Park in Game Three, but the result remained unchanged. Boston scored two runs in the third and three runs in the fourth and headed into the seventh with a seemingly insurmountable 6-1 lead.

It took just one inning for it all to fall apart. Three walks and a single forced in a run and brought AL MVP Vladamir Guerrero to the plate representing the tying run. The future Hall of Famer sent one into the right-field bullpen, tying the score at six and silencing the Fenway crowd.

The Red Sox were reeling and went into extra innings with the score still knotted at six.
Though Ortiz established himself as a major league regular in the 2003 season, it was in 2004 where he truly became a feared slugger.

He slashed .301/.380/.603 and finished second in both home runs (41) and RBI (139). Red Sox fans had learned to trust Ortiz with the game on the line, and they knew that any late-inning swing Big Papi took could be the one that made the difference.

Ortiz would take that swing in the bottom of the tenth. With a runner on second and two down, he sent a curveball from Washburn over the Green Monster to send the Red Sox to the ALCS. It was the first clutch home run of Big Papi’s postseason career, but it would not be nearly the last.

The situation: 2013 World Series

The moment: Ortiz’s .688 average leads Red Sox to series win over the Cardinals

It was almost comical how much Ortiz carried the Red Sox in the 2013 World Series. Of the 27 runs Boston scored during their six-game victory over the Cardinals, 13 were either driven in or scored by Ortiz.

The averages of Red Sox players in that series look like a group of pitchers: Stephen Drew hit .158, Jonny Gomes hit .118, Daniel Nava hit .143, and Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino both hit .154. The one player who hit over .250 was Big Papi, who hit an inconceivable .688 en route to winning World Series MVP.

For a moment, it looked like Ortiz’s contribution would all be for naught. The Red Sox lost two of the first three games, including an absolutely heartbreaking, walk-off defeat in Game 3. Game 4 was more of the same, as the Red Sox trailed 1-0 going into the top of the fifth.

Before the Red Sox came to bat, Ortiz gathered the team and gave them the pep talk to end all pep talks. “I told them we had been in this situation before and that we had a better team than we had showed,” he said afterward.

Ortiz, of course, would back up his words with his bat. He led off the fifth with a ringing double into the right-field gap and came rumbling home on a Stephen Drew sac fly to tie the game. After making that speech, Ortiz would go an incredible 5-for-6, and the Red Sox would head back to Boston with a 3-2 lead in the series.

The Cardinals finally decided to stop pitching to him in Game Six, intentionally walking him three times, but it didn’t matter. The Red Sox closed out the series with a 6-1 win, and Ortiz would take home MVP honors in one of the most incredible World Series performances of all time.

The situation: April 20, 2013, five days after the Boston Marathon bombings

The moment: Ortiz’s uncensored speech in the first home game after the Boston Marathon bombings unified the city 

David Ortiz’s place in Boston sports lore was already secure before the 2013 season. His clutch hitting in the 2004 postseason led the Red Sox past the Yankees to their first World Series title in 86 years.

Ortiz would follow up the 2004 season with three straight MVP level seasons, including a record-setting 54 home run campaign in 2006. And even when his career seemed over after a disastrous 2009 season, he rebounded over the next few years and re-established himself as the best DH in the game.

What happened in the 2013 campaign, however, would elevate him to near-immortal status. His first signature moment occurred on April 20, just five days after the Boston Marathon bombings killed three and injured hundreds. Ortiz was on a rehab assignment for his Achilles when the bombings occurred and returned to find a city and a team still reeling from the attacks.

After their April 19 game against the Royals was postponed, the Red Sox took the Fenway Park field on April 20 for their first game since the bombings. Wearing a jersey that said “Boston” rather than the usual “Red Sox,” Ortiz asked to speak to the crowd before the game and delivered a speech that would go down in Boston history.

“This jersey we wear today doesn’t say, Red Sox,” he said. “It says Boston. We want to thank you, Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, the whole Police Department for the great job they did this past week.”

“This is our f*** city. And nobody is going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong.”

The speech represented a turning point for not just the city’s recovery but the 2013 Red Sox team. “Boston Strong” became a rallying cry for the team and its fans, and they would never look back.

The situation: 2013 ALCS Game 2, Tigers lead series 1-0

The moment: Ortiz’s game-tying grand slam in the eighth inning sparks a comeback that would tie the series

Boston was done. There was no doubt about it. They looked utterly overmatched in Game One, striking out seventeen times and not collecting a hit until the ninth inning. Game Two was more of the same. Cy Young winner Max Scherzer completely dominated the Red Sox lineup, allowing just one run over seven innings and striking out thirteen.

When the Tigers put up four runs in the top of the sixth, the Red Sox were in serious danger of losing the first two games at home with future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander looming in Game 3.

The Sox were finally able to get something going in the eighth off Tigers reliever Jose Veras. A one-out Will Middlebrooks double followed by a Jacoby Ellsbury walk finally woke up the Fenway Park crowd. A Shane Victorino strikeout put the Tigers just one out away from escaping the jam, but a Dustin Pedroia single loaded the bases for Big Papi.

Not taking any chances, the Tigers brought in closer Joaquin Benoit. His first pitch to Ortiz was sent deep into right field, chasing Gold Glove winner Torii Hunter to the edge of the track. He leaped high over the right-field wall barely missed the ball as he tumbled over the right-field fence. Fenway Park erupted in celebration, and Ortiz had yet another signature moment.

Ortiz’s blast changed the course of the series and the rest of the Red Sox season for that matter. Jarrod Saltalamacchia would walk off the Tigers in the ninth, and the Red Sox would close out the series in six games. Yet as heroic as Ortiz’s blast was, it still couldn’t top his performance in the 2004 ALCS.

The situation: 2004 ALCS against the Yankees

The moment: Ortiz’s heroics helps lead the Red Sox to the only 3-0 comeback in baseball history

What else could be number one? The city of Boston has had a lot of historic sports moments over the years, notably the Celtics record seventeen NBA titles and the Belichick-Brady dynasty, but nothing can top what happened in the 2004 ALCS.

The Red Sox ended generations of frustrations at the hands of the Yankees by becoming the first team ever to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series. In the center of it all was Ortiz, who delivered clutch hit after clutch hit to carry the Red Sox to the miraculous victory.

Ortiz’s first big hit came in Game 4. Facing Paul Quantrill in the twelfth inning with the score tied at four, he drove a ball into the right-field bullpen to force a fifth game. Papi was even more clutch in Game 5. The Red Sox were trailing 4-2 and down to their final six outs, and with Mariano Rivera looming in the bullpen, they needed to get something going.

Papi, of course, would be the one who got the rally started. He blasted a ball over the left-field wall to close the deficit to one. The Red Sox would tie the game later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Jason Varitek, and the game remained tied when the Hall of Famer stepped to the plate in the fourteenth with two on and two out.

On the tenth pitch of a remarkably tense at-bat, Ortiz lofted a single into center field, scoring Damon and sending the series back to New York.

The Red Sox won Game 6 on Curt Schilling’s famous “bloody sock” performance and went into Game 7 with all the momentum. Who else could get things going but Ortiz, who got the scoring started with a two-run blast in the top of the first inning.

The Red Sox cruised to a 10-3 victory, completing the greatest comeback in baseball history. Ortiz, of course, took home series MVP honors, and the Red Sox swept the Cardinals in the World Series to break their 86-year drought.