The 2013 Boston Red Sox team was a special one, and they are set to be honored this Saturday to remember a magical season.
April 15 also is the anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured over 280. The Red Sox had an early first pitch since it was Patriots Day, and retired veteran pitcher recalled the day of the bombing in his appearance on the "TC & Company Podcast," along with Jake Peavy.
"No, I've never been a part of anything like that before in my life," Dempster told Tom Caron. "Just to take it back starting Patriots Day when all that happened. ... I pitch that game. I think (David Ortiz) hits a home run off David Price, twice. David Price texts him because he's mad. We're already starting a bus ride after an emotional win. We're having an emotional bus ride conversation because literally, that's happening. And then we always had that police escort with that motorcade.
"... All of a sudden, our police motorcade, gone. We didn't know why. All of them left. And then all of sudden, he (Will Middlebrooks) was like, 'There's a bombing, and it's downtown.' And we don't know what that means. We knew nothing. ... We got to Cleveland. We find out what happens, stuff starts to play out. We had a big team dinner. Everyone on the team came to dinner. I've never had that happen in my career. And we talk about and our responsibility. What we need to do for the town and be there for support."
The city of Boston rallied together following the tragedy under the phrase "Boston Strong," and the Red Sox internally knew they would be looked upon to provide hope for people who needed it.
Ortiz delivered an iconic speech before the first game at Fenway Park after the bombing that was capped off with the Baseball Hall of Famer proclaiming, "This is our (expletive) city."
Boston went on to beat the Kansas City Royals thanks to a three-run home run from Daniel Nava in the bottom of the eighth inning. Dempster and the Red Sox knew they could not lose on April 20, 2013.
"We're thinking that mentality: We gotta support. We gotta support. We gotta help," Dempster said. "We home from Cleveland after sweeping the (Guardians). ... I walked to the field. It was like a scene from 'The Walking Dead.' I could hear a newspaper going. I remember somebody was riding a bike down Commonwealth. There wasn't many people. I could hear the chain on the bike going down the street. That's how quiet it was. It was eerie. I'm getting goosebumps right now.
"... All the things Friday night take place, and now everybody comes out. I'm looking down the street, and it is just filtering with people. You know the mob mentality? Bad things happen in mob mentalities: People get in fights, people do things, things happen. I've never seen this many people in a love mentality, a freedom mentality. We're here for each other.
"I think a lot of it comes to where Papi said that. He sees that stuff going on. He recognizes that. ... Here we think we have this responsibility as a team to uplift this city and be there. ... And I remember looking at Jony (Gomes), Papi and (Jarrod Saltalamacchia) and I was like, 'We can't lose. How do we lose? Look at what we have behind us.' ... You feel like the '300,' but there's 25 of us. It's like, you can't stop us. ..."
The Red Sox went 97-65 and beat the St. Louis Cardinals in six games to capture the World Series. It capped off a memorable run the team and fans will remember for a long time.
