How 23 Year Old Josh Beckett Propelled the Florida Marlins to the World Series in 2003.

Everybody besides Yankees fans hated the dynasty they had built at this time, with the exception of a month in September/October after 9/11 in 2001. The mighty Yankees lost the World Series in seven games in heartbreaking fashion to a walk off single by Luis Gonzalez off of the greatest postseason pitcher of all time Mariano Rivera. From 1996 to 2003 the Yankees won six pennants and four World Series titles, as they beat the Braves in 1996 and 1999, the Padres in 1998, and the Mets in 2000. We just established who famously defeated the Yankees in this period but… who is the other one? That my friends would be another 90s expansion team: The Florida Marlins.

The 2003 Marlins were an… interesting team, I guess that would be the right way to put it? They broke into the league alongside the Colorado Rockies in 1993, and the Rockies immediately outdrew the Marlins in attendance. Despite that, somehow by 1997 the Marlins actually built a really good roster that carried them all the way to winning Game 7 of the 1997 World Series when 20-year-old shortstop Edgar Renteria hit a walk-off single in extras. General Manager Dave Dombroski was tasked with building the team from the bottom up, and the stacked Marlins roster featured stars like “Mr. Marlin” Jeff Connie, an elite outfield trio of Gary Sheffield, Moises Alou, and Bobby Bonilla, and Ace pitcher Kevin Brown. To top it all off, the team was managed by newly elected Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland, who won his lone World Series championship in Florida.

Weirdly, after their improbable championship, Dombroski sold off all of his players to other ball clubs, and the Marlins quickly became cellar dwellers. These years of tanking would pay-off though, as the pinnacle of our story was a highlight of the process. In 1999 the Florida Marlins drafted 18-year-old pitcher Josh Beckett of Spring HS in Spring, Texas, and just over a year and a half later, Becket was pitching with the big league club.

After a few less than watchable years, owner John W. Henry sold off the team to former Expos partial owner Jeff Lori on February 12, 2002. Prior to the 2002 season, general manager Dave Dombroski also left the franchise, jumping ship to Detroit, where he failed to win another title by the time he left in 2015. Loria hired Larry Beinfest, who also came from the expos to take Dombroski’s position.

By the time 2003 rolled around, the Marlins were looking to be in good shape again, and were on pace for only the franchises second winning season. After a less than favorable 16-22 start, manager Jeff Torborg was fired, and replaced by former Reds manager Jack McKeon. Beckett had a less than ideal 2002 season in his sophomore campaign, as he went 6-7, with a 4.50 ERA, and an ERA+ of 98. He turned things around in the 2003 season though, and would end the regular season with a record of 9-8, a 3.04 ERA, and an ERA+ of 138. The Marlins went on a tear, and would end the season with a 91-71 record, earning the wildcard spot in the process.

The Marlins were set to play the San Francisco Giants, who just came off a season where they lost game 7 of the 2002 World Series to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Don’t even get me started on how ridiculous that name is). Beckett, the 23-year-old got the ball in game one, and didn’t take the opportunity for granted, as he pitched his way to a quality start, giving up two hits in seven innings, with one earned run and nine strikeouts. However, he also gave out five free passes, which is never good, but either way the Marlins gave him no run support and the Marlins lost 2-0. The Marlins would end up winning the series in dramatic fashion, as in game four catcher Ivan Rodriguez somehow held onto a throw from left fielder Jeff Connie to nab J.T. Snow at the plate to end the series.

In the infamous 2003 NLCS, Beckett once again got the game one start, but ended up giving up 6 runs in 6 and 1/3 innings, getting a no decision in the process. The cubs, with hopes of going to their first World Series since 1945 had a commanding 3-1 series lead when the cubs faced off against Beckett in game five. Beckett went ballistic. He struck out eleven cubs, who looked off balance all night, while only giving out one free pass and two hits. This brought the series back to Chicago, where the drama only levitated. You know how the story goes, Mark Prior was dominating going into the eight, and with one out and nobody on, left fielder Moises Alou jumped for a fly ball and was interfered by fan Steve Bartman. To this day, I will stand by the fact Bartman did nothing wrong, he should have never dealt with what happened to him. The Marlins slowly started creeping back, and with one out, the score 3-1, and two runners on, rookie then, but future hall of fame Miguel Cabrera hit a chopper to shortstop Alex Gonzalez who booted the ball. The Marlins would end up scoring EIGHT runs in the eighth. Becket came in relief in game seven, pitched four innings only giving up one run, and helped the Marlins make it back to the World Series for the second time in six years.

When the 2003 World Series was set to be between the Yankees and the Marlins, nobody really gave the Marlins a chance. The juggernaut Yankees had legends like Roger Clemens, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettite, and Mariano Rivera who were expected to power New York to the title. In game one, the Yankees manager Joe Torre gave the ball to veteran southpaw David Wells, who would end up pitching seven innings while allowing three runs, which gave him a quality start. However, behind the pitching of Starter Brad Penny, and young southpaw Dontrelle Willis, the Marlins were able to come out with a victory in game one, along with the help of Juan Pierre driving in two and Ivan Rodriguez driving in one respectively, the fish won 3-2. In game two, Lefty legend (and PED user) Andy Pettite pitched a masterclass, as he almost went the distance with a complete game shutout, but settled for 8 and 2/3 innings with one earned run allowed and the Yankees won 6-1. Game three was much of the same, but this time for the Marlins our focus piece started game three. Spoiler: the Yankees would again come on top winning 6-1, but Beckett pitched an amazing game to his credit. Josh went 7 and 2/3 innings while allowing two runs on three hits and struck out 10. His counterpart, Hall of Famer Mike Mussina pitched seven innings of one run ball, and the best closer of all time, Mariano rivera shut down the Marlins in the final two frames, and the Yanks took a 2-1 series lead. Game four featured some pretty cool moments; well for one, rookie right fielder and future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera faced already proven legend, and if not for PED use also Hall of Famer Roger Clemens, and the youngster bested him as he belted an opposite field shot off of him in the first inning to give the fish an early lead. This Game went 12 innings… and in perhaps one of the most forgotten World Series homers of all time, Alex Gonzalez smoked a walk-off solo homer off of Jeff Weaver, and the Marlins tied the series at two games a piece. Wells and Penny had a rematch of game one set for game five, and once again Penny got the win as the Marlins edged out the Yankees 6–4, but not without a heart attack performance from Marlins reliever Braden Looper, who let up two runs late. Luckily for Florida, pitcher Ugueth Urbina saved the day and shut down the Yanks for his fourth save of the postseason, and he, nor any other pitcher was needed again…

Game six was the night Josh Beckett truly became a legend, and his performance deserves a deep analysis. On just three days rest, after coming off a tough loss in game three, our hero took the mound to face the most successful team in American sports history at the height of their powers. He got off to a scorching hot start on the first batter of the game, as he struck out Derek Jeter on of the nastiest curveballs you’ll ever see, as Jeter looked like a deer in headlights, and he would end up finishing the inning with a shattered bat from Hideki Matsui to end the first inning three batters later. In the bottom of the second, Beckett absolutely painted the inside corner to get catcher Jorge Posada caught looking, and ended the inning by striking out third baseman and future Yankees manager Aaron Boone on a high heater, as he absolutely swung out of his shoes. All damn night Beckett either dominated guys by striking them out looking, or inducing weak contact, and in the bottom of the third he got Bernie Williams to ground into an inning ending double play. In the fourth, Posada was a victim for the second time, as he went down swinging on a low fastball. In the top of the fifth, Luis Castillo broke through and sent an Andy Pettite pitch the other way for an RBI single, giving Beckett at least one run of support. In a chance with a runner at second and two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Beckett blows a 97 MPH four-seamer past Jeter to end the inning, as Derek’s face fills with disgust. with one out in the sixth, we see another filthy 0-2 breaking ball like we did to Jeter to lead off the game, but this time it’s Bernie Williams who is caught looking, and he never had a chance of hitting that thing! As stupid as Bernie may have looked on that pitch, the next batter, Hideki Matsui looked even worse, as he looked like he was swinging a 90 ounce bat on another Beckett curve ball on a 1-2 count. In a huge situation with one out, and a runner on second, Beckett through yet ANOTHER nasty curveball in a full count to retire former MVP Jason Giambi, as the road rage got to him, and then he proceeded to fan urban Sierra on a blazing fastball to end the inning. With one out in the eight, we see another example of week contact when he gets Nick Johnson to ground into a weak double play to Luis Castillo, and the inning is over.

Now, having red all of this, have you ever seen a more fitting ending to a World Series than 2003? Posada grounds a weak ground ball back to Beckett who tags Posada himself! I mean c’mon, how can you not fucking love baseball?? He carried the fish on his back and he got to make the final out of the series all by himself, as Yankee Stadium goes quiet. The camera pans to the disgusted Yankees, and then to the Marlins lifting their hero up on their shoulders. Story. Book. Ending.