Which team broke the "Curse of the Bambino" with their 2004 World Series win?

The Boston Red Sox broke the “Curse of the Bambino” by winning the 2004 World Series. Boston swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four games, capturing its first championship since 1918 and ending an 86-year drought.

The supposed curse was linked to Boston’s sale of Babe Ruth, nicknamed the Bambino, to the New York Yankees after the 1919 season. The Red Sox had won multiple championships before the sale, while the Yankees became baseball’s dominant franchise afterward. The idea of a curse was largely a sports superstition, but it became deeply embedded in Boston’s identity.

The Red Sox’s championship run was especially dramatic because they overcame a 3–0 deficit against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. They became the first MLB team to win a best-of-seven postseason series after losing the opening three games. Boston then defeated St. Louis 4–0 in the World Series.

The 2004 title was not Boston’s only later championship: the Red Sox also won the World Series in 2007 and 2013. But 2004 is the team’s famous “curse-breaking” season.