In the 2004 ALCS, most of the attention is paid to Dave Roberts stealing second base in the ninth inning. That steal led to Bill Mueller singling him in and giving Boston life. But it was David Ortiz who was the real hero, hitting a walk off, two-run homer in the 12th off of Paul Quantrill to give Boston a 6-4 win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5dsrwMAF80
In Game 5, Ortiz would strike again with a solo homer in the eighth inning and a walk off single in the 14th. Then Curt Schilling pitched his bloody sock game in Game 6, and Boston rolled to a series win in Game 7.
Here’s an infographic about Ortiz’s two walk off hits (click to enlarge).
Walk off hits in back to back games. When you combine those two hits with his walk off homer in Boston’s Game 3 ALDS clincher against the Angels, it was one hell of a Postseason for Big Papi. In the ALDS, he hit .545/.688/1.000. In the ALCS, he hit .387/.457/.742. In the World Series, he hit .308/.471/.615. Over the entire 2004 Postseason, Ortiz homered five times and drove in 19 runs for the Red Sox. In his Postseason career, which has seen him win three World Championships, the 2004 ALCS MVP, and the 2013 World Series MVP with Boston, Ortiz has hit .295/.409/.553 with 17 homers and 60 RBI in just 357 plate appearances. Those 17 Postseason homers are seventh-most all-time, and the 60 RBI are the fifth-most ever.
Can any active player end up matching Ortiz’s ridiculous playoff power numbers? Well, Angels first baseman Albert Pujols has 18 playoff homers and 52 RBI, despite notching just 321 plate appearances. Orioles DH Nelson Cruz has launched 14 career homers in just 137 Postseason plate appearances. Over in the National League, Jayson Werth of the Nationals also has 14 career Postseason homers in 206 plate appearances. Maybe Werth will surpass Ortiz during the NLDS on Fox Sports 1. Maybe someone like Andrew McCutchen, Yasiel Puig, or Matt Adams will become a new playoff icon.
But just remember this about Ortiz: before that 2004 Postseason, David Ortiz was a 28-year old, one-time All-Star with 130 homers that was two years removed from being released by the Twins. Maybe that top five MVP finish in 2003 was a flash in the pan, and he’d slowly fade away like we’ve seen so many stars do throughout MLB history. Nope. He shined in the 2004 playoffs, and went on to finish in the top five of MVP voting for four more years in a row. He’s on the cusp of 500 career home runs. And while we can’t give the 2004 Postseason all of the credit, it sure helped David Ortiz on his path to the Hall of Fame.
