NEW YORK (AP) – Even in the pain of last year’s collapse, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein was confident Boston will someday win the World Series.

“But we might not have a chance to come through Yankee Stadium to win it,” he said. “Now, here we are, just a year later.”

The Red Sox will play for their first World Series title since 1918 after beating the New York Yankees 10-3 in Game 7 of the AL championship series.

The victory was Boston’s fourth in a row, making it the first baseball team to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games.

It was that much sweeter that the comeback was against the hated Yankees, who have won 26 titles since Boston won its last. New York has won seven consecutive AL East championships; the Red Sox have been second each time.

“All the fans and all the players all those years couldn’t get a chance to go to the World Series because the Yankees were in the way. Now we’re in their way,” Epstein said, raising his beer for a toast. “That’s for the 03 team, just like it’s for the 78 and the 49 team. I hope Ted Williams is having a cocktail upstairs.”

Boston battled New York down to the final day in 1949 and forced a one-game playoff in 1978, won by New York on Bucky Dent’s popup home run that cleared Fenway Park’s Green Monster. The Red Sox then faced the Yankees again in the 1999 playoffs but lost in five games.

But few disappointments can match last year’s disintegration at Yankee Stadium, when Red Sox manager Grady Little opted not to remove tiring ace Pedro Martinez in the eighth inning as a three-run lead withered away. The Yankees tied the game to send it into extra innings and won when Aaron Boone homered off Tim Wakefield in the 11th.

Little was let go, and the Red Sox began a tumultuous offseason in which they added Curt Schilling to the rotation and Keith Foulke to the bullpen. Their courtship of Alex Rodriguez backfired when it angered shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, creating an untenable situation that forced them to trade him; in the end, the Yankees were the ones who closed the deal for Rodriguez, the MVP shortstop-turned-third baseman.

But the Garciaparra trade netted Boston Orlando Cabrera, who was a better fielder and, with a .379 average in the ALCS, its second-best hitter. The improved Red Sox defense over the second half turned them from a .500 team to a pennant-winner.

Wakefield, who won two games in the 2003 series before losing the decisive game, was a key contributor in this year’s effort, too. Twice surrendering a chance to start to serve as an emergency reliever, he held the Yankees scoreless for the final three innings of Boston’s 14-inning Game 5 victory on Monday and was ready again Wednesday night if needed.

While his teammates moved their celebration from the mound to the visitor’s clubhouse, Wakefield lingered on the mound, where he’d watched the year before while the Yankees celebrated.

“Look at Wake: He didn’t want to leave the mound,” said Derek Lowe, who pitched six innings of one-hit ball in the clincher. “Guys didn’t want to pull him off the mound.”

Although Boston’s ultimate goal remains a World Series title, they have already made history with their comeback and by vanquishing their nemesis.

“Last year, I remember we had a bad memory,” said designated hitter David Ortiz, who was the ALCS MVP after two game-winning hits and a two-run homer on Wednesday that put Boston ahead for good. “A lot of my teammates were just destroyed, because we played a pretty good game and we lost and it was a big-time opportunity to step to the World Series.

“We saw a lot of fans crying and feeling hurt and I think myself and all of my teammates, we were worried about it and kept that for ourselves. And that’s one of the big reasons for us to come to the field and represent the way we did the last four games.”

AP-ES-10-21-04 0831EDT