We’re spending the 2025 season looking back at previous seasons, specifically the 50 greatest teams in history, a group that I call the Best 50. Today’s entry, the 2007 Boston Red Sox, is No. 27 on the list, as determined by my new book, Baseball’s Best (and Worst) Teams.
Here’s a quick boilerplate explanation that I’m appending to every story in this series:
I compiled the Best 50 by analyzing 2,544 major-league teams from 1903 to 2024. Those clubs have been ranked by their team scores (TS), which are plotted on a 100-point scale. (A given club’s all-time percentile is the percentage of the other 2,543 teams that it outperformed.)
See my book for an explanation of my TS calculations. The book also offers separate breakdowns of the best and worst clubs for every decade and franchise, comprehensive profiles of the Best 50 (including position-by-position lineups and much more information than you’ll find in this newsletter), and similar summaries of the 10 worst teams of all time.
Now on to today’s profile.
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Team: 2007 Boston Red Sox
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Team score: 86.949 points
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All-time rank: 27 of 2,544
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All-time percentile: 98.98%
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Season record: 96-66 (.593)
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Season position: First place in American League East
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Final status: World champion
The Red Sox went a bit flat after their glorious World Series triumph in 2004, their first championship in 86 years. Boston was swept by the Chicago White Sox in the initial round of 2005’s playoffs, then failed to qualify for the 2006 postseason.
An air of uncertainty enveloped the Sox during spring training in 2007. Slugger Manny Ramirez failed to report on time, pitcher Curt Schilling publicly groused about his contract, and skeptics predicted that the club was on a downhill slide. Manager Terry Francona told everybody to relax. “This is the Red Sox,” he said. “We’re used to dealing with these things.”
Francona was prophetic. His club tuned out the distractions and zipped to an 11.5-game lead in the American League East by Memorial Day, a cushion that eventually proved to be essential. The onrushing New York Yankees went 51-25 after the All-Star break, easily outpacing Boston’s 43-32 record. The latter was just good enough to leave the Sox a two-game margin at the end. The divisional crown was their first since 1995.
Get the complete lowdown on the 50 greatest (and 10 weakest) clubs of all time
Boston’s 2007 march to a world title was remarkably similar to its 2004 campaign. Both began with a fairly easy sweep of the Angels in the American League Division Series, followed by a hard-fought second round.
Cleveland charged to a lead of three games to one in the AL Championship Series, but the Red Sox responded with a trio of resounding victories, 7-1, 12-2, and 11-2, to clinch the pennant. Manny Ramirez drove in 10 runs against the Indians, and pitcher Josh Beckett notched two wins.
The World Series was a breeze, just as it had been three years earlier. Boston swept Colorado by a combined score of 29-10. The Sox batted .333 and held the Rockies to a .218 average. “That was it, great pitching and timely hitting,” said first baseman Kevin Youkilis. “What can you say? This is the best team in baseball.”
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There was surprisingly little overlap between the 2004 and 2007 versions of the Red Sox. “The ’04 season is kind of a long time ago,” second baseman Dustin Pedroia told a reporter. “Got to write about something new now. That stuff’s over.”
Only seven members of Boston’s 2007 roster owned 2004 World Series rings. The five-foot-nine Pedroia was not among them. He had been deep in the minor leagues back then, clawing his way toward the majors. Scrappiness was his calling card. “I’m not the biggest guy in the world,” Pedroia said. “I don’t have that many tools.” He nonetheless batted .317 in 2007 to win the American League’s Rookie of the Year Award.
Two other newcomers — third baseman Mike Lowell and pitcher Josh Beckett — had arrived from the Florida Marlins in a November 2005 trade. Lowell drove home 120 runs, fifth-best in the AL in ’07. Beckett topped both leagues with 20 regular-season victories, then added four more in the playoffs. “I think he looks forward to that challenge,” said Terry Francona. “When you get to the postseason, he has been some kind of pitcher.”
Boston’s two offensive mainstays in ’04 followed divergent paths in ’07. Left fielder Manny Ramirez suffered a down year by his standards. He hit 20 home runs, the fewest since his rookie year of 1994. But designated hitter David Ortiz batted .332 and launched 35 homers.
Ortiz was imposing — six-foot-three, 230 pounds — though a teammate contended that intelligence, not size, was the key to his success. “You don’t hit .330 because you’re just big and strong,” said Lowell. “You have to know how to hit.”
