In the ALCS game that began on October 16, 2003, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox took their rivalry into an extra-inning winner-take-all finish. Game 7 at Yankee Stadium ended after midnight, when Aaron Boone homered in the bottom of the 11th. New York won 6–5 and advanced to the World Series.
Boston had built a 4–0 lead, leaving the Yankees little room for another mistake. Mike Mussina entered in relief and supplied three scoreless innings, keeping a difficult game within reach. Jason Giambi's two solo home runs helped New York work its way back, but David Ortiz's eighth-inning homer extended Boston's lead to 5–2.
The Yankees answered with three runs in the bottom of the eighth. The comeback changed the game from a contest Boston could close out into one neither side could settle quickly. Mariano Rivera then provided three scoreless innings, matching Mussina's earlier contribution and giving New York more chances to find the decisive run.
Boone swung at the first pitch he saw from Tim Wakefield in the 11th and sent it over the left-field wall. There was no need to finish the inning or protect a new lead. The home run simultaneously ended the game, the series and Boston's season, turning a long night into a single enduring image.
The finish is remembered through Boone, but the route to it explains why postseason baseball resists simple summaries. Relief pitching preserved the possibility of a comeback; two earlier home runs narrowed the deficit; an eighth-inning rally erased it. Boone supplied the last piece. October 16 marks the start of the game whose final swing carried New York to another pennant.