2021 MLB Playoffs: Fenway and Red Sox
BOSTON – The chants at Fenway Park during this Red Sox playoff run echo in your mind. When Gerrit Cole struggled in the American League Wild Card Game, unable to make it through three innings of work, Boston fans chanted “GERRIT!” through the crowd. When Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena ran into right field, Red Sox fans in the stands let out chants of “RANDY!” (He touched the tip of his cap in response). After Luis Patiño conceded the game-winning home run to Christian Vazquez in Game 3, fans greeted him before the game in Game 4 with boos, prompting the Rays pitcher to blow kisses to the crowd. When Patiño later entered the game, facing Vazquez, the Fenway crowd began to use a taunt that is imprinted in the annals of Red Sox history.
“WHO’S YOUR DADDY?”
Maybe it’s the months he spent inside during COVID’s quarantine. Maybe it’s that the Red Sox find themselves back in the playoffs after posting one of the worst records in baseball during the 2020 season. Maybe it’s the divisional rivalry playoff games against the Yankees and Rays that prompted the loud chants from the stands, but few at Fenway Park can recall an atmosphere as loud and enthusiastic as the crowd the Red Sox played in front of in Boston during this playoff run.
With a roar worthy of a Boston Marathon Monday behind them, Boston advanced to the American League Championship Series with their 6-5 victory over the Rays on Monday night. The Red Sox took an early lead in the game in the third inning thanks to a three-run homer by Rafael Devers, a towering double by Alex Verdugo and a go-ahead single by designated hitter J.D. Martinez. Although the Rays managed to get closer in the fifth inning with Austin Meadows’ RBI and Wander Franco’s sixth-inning homer, and even tied the score in the eighth inning, the Red Sox came back once again with a sacrifice fly by Kiké Hernandez to leave the opponent stranded in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Players for both the Rays and Yankees admitted the crowd’s effect on the game. The sentiment from those around the team, from Fenway Park security guards to players, coaches and front office executives, remained the same across the board: the crowds in Boston are in another level this postseason, a near-legendary state.
There is magic in the air right now at Fenway Park.
Outfielder Hunter Renfroe: “I think that was probably the best fans, the noise, the best interaction I’ve seen, both from our fans and Yankees fans.”
Hitting coach Tim Hyers: “My personal experience, this has been as good as any. I’ve had my kids in town and they’ve been to a lot of playoff games with me and they said this was unbelievable. They haven’t experienced Fenway like it was last week.”
Assistant GM Eddie Romero: “Louder than the 2018 World Series.”
Chief Baseball Operations Officer Chaim Bloom: “I’ve had people who have been in this organization for decades tell me that last Tuesday was the best night at Fenway they’ve ever experienced. Last night, tonight, everybody brought it.”
The crowds at Fenway have plenty of reasons to be excited. Coming into the season, the Boston Red Sox analytics group projected modest expectations for the 2021 team, a team they believed could win around 86 games and compete for a wild-card spot. Instead, by the end of the first half, they were on track to win 98. No other team in baseball recorded more comeback wins, who, in the process, recalibrated expectations for the season.
Still, Red Sox fans were furious at the trade deadline when the team added slugger Kyle Schwarber and reliever Hansel Robles but no additional reinforcements to the bullpen and rotation. By late September, after the Yankees swept the Red Sox and then fell in two of three against the Baltimore Orioles, the pressure had mounted again: Boston needed a win in the final game of the season to clinch a spot in the wild-card game. In that must-win game against the Nationals, the Red Sox fell behind 5-1 before Rafael Devers connected on the game-winning home run, his second of the day, which helped propel the Red Sox into the playoffs in one of the final plays of the MLB season.
