In that echo chamber of success, 2007 is easy to overlook. Winning had become a part of the Boston sports culture, and more championships would soon follow for all four of the city’s biggest sports teams, including the Marathon Bombing emotion of the Red Sox 2013 title, and the all-in push for the 2018 championship, delivered with a squad so potent that owner John Henry labeled it the greatest Red Sox team in history. By the time the Red Sox swept the Rockies in October, the Curse of Babe Ruth was already broken, the Patriots had won three of the past six Super Bowls and were putting together the NFL’s first 16-0 regular season, and the Celtics had just acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. It is perpetually overlooked and underappreciated. The Red Sox, though, have won enough in the past two decades to keep the ’07 championship in the shadows. “In terms of a dominant, big-market team winning the World Series, and at the same time having the best farm system, that’s like a crowning achievement for an organization.” “I felt like (the 2007 championship) was the height of Theo’s time in Boston,” former assistant general manager Jed Hoyer said. Together, they made savvy moves at the top, developed talent from within and set in motion a system that would produce two more championships and four division titles in the next 11 years, to say nothing of its eventual impact on other organizations.
General manager Theo Epstein had surrounded himself with front-office prospects, future industry leaders in scouting, development, analytics and team building. Those who built that championship team, though, remain particularly proud of ’07 as a singular moment of organizational success.
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