Losing Game 7 [in 2003] was devastating, and it’s hard not to have that linger a little while into the offseason,” said Miami Marlins assistant general manager Gabe Kapler, an outfielder on both the 2003 and 2004 Red Sox teams. “And we definitely felt like we were as good or were better than the Yankees in 2003. We made some important additions in that offseason, and we felt like going into 2004 we were poised to make a run.”
In the days after the World Series, the Yankees received another dose of motivation. Members of the Dodgers emptied a saltshaker on an open wound when they criticized the Yankees in various podcast interviews, pointing out that they entered the series expecting to exploit New York’s subpar defense and baserunning. Around this time, too, bumper stickers of the Fox score bug from the fifth inning — showing the Yankees up 5-0 with two outs — went viral.
Jon Berti, a Yankee in 2024 who signed with the Chicago Cubs during the offseason, said Dodgers players “disrespected” the Yankees with their criticism. Boone said he hopes his team will handle winning the World Series “with a little more class” if it does so. Yankees reliever Luke Weaver said he didn’t understand the motivation for the comments. Other Yankees steered clear.
“What am I going to say?” said Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, the reigning AL MVP. “You win, you can kind of say whatever you want. If you don’t like it, you got to play better.”
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