The story behind the Red Sox' 2021 playoff anthem

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If you tuned in for the Boston Red Sox' celebration after their series-clinching win over the Tampa Bay Rays, you were treated to quite the spectacle.

As bottles were popped and champagne was sprayed, the team danced and sang along in unison to a song you probably wouldn't expect. That jam was Boston's latest playoff anthem, "Dancing On My Own" by Calum Scott and Tiesto, a remake of Robyn's 2010 hit.

If you look up the lyrics, you'll notice it's a breakup song and not a celebratory tune. So, why was it chosen as the team's rallying cry?

Allow Red Sox catcher Kevin Plawecki, who uses it as his walk-up song, to explain.

"Me and Benny (Andrew Benintendi) and (Kevin) Pillar and Mitch Moreland lived together last year and we just played this song all the time,” Plawecki said, per RedSox.com. “It was kind of as a joke, because Moreland didn’t really care for it. He’s a country boy and was like, ‘This song sucks, yada yada.’ ...

“We had a scrimmage game and we had walk-ups for the scrimmage. I’m like, ‘I’m just going to mess with Mitch today.’ He was on the other team playing first. So my first at-bat with it as my walk-up song, I hit a homer and I’m singing it to Mitch as I’m running around first, and then, I obviously kept it as my walk-up for the whole year last year and then throughout this year."

Eventually, the rest of Plawecki's teammates took notice.

“I’m always playing music on the speaker, on the bus and stuff. Everybody’s like, ‘Play that one song.’ So I always play it," Plawecki said. "Everybody has just gone overboard now. I never would have thought everyone would sing it like that.”

Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo says Plawecki would play the same five songs over and over, and "Dancing With My Own" simply ended up being the one the team embraced.

“Sure enough, it just kind of went from, he played it and guys were like, ‘All right, we like it.’ Then it was like, ‘Dang, he’s overplaying it. We’re kind of done with it.’ Now it’s our song," Verdugo said. This is what we’re turning up to. He’s played it so much that all the guys know it.

"Plawecki’s a good teammate and fun dude. It’s one of those things that just originated on his end.”

The Red Sox hope to blast their postseason anthem again after the American League Championship Series. Game 1 of the best-of-seven vs. the Houston Astros is set for 8:07 p.m. ET on Friday.

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