By: Preston Young
Earlier this month, I took the train down to Yankee Stadium with nine friends for Game 1 of the Red Sox vs. Yankees Wild Card series. We took up basically an entire row, and despite what happened on the field, the whole experience was a lot of fun.
The train ride, walking into the stadium, the atmosphere of playoff baseball, it was everything you would want from a night like that. Except, of course, for the actual baseball being played by the Red Sox.
We got home around 2 a.m. That is a much easier hour to justify when your team wins.
I went into the game hopeful, but I would not say confident. This Red Sox season had plenty of ebbs and flows, and I spent a good portion of it trying to figure out whether they were actually good. They fired their manager, Alex Cora early in the season, struggled for a while, and then put together a great stretch in July that changed the entire conversation.
Suddenly, a team that had been frustrating to watch was giving us a reason to believe. They were winning, climbing back into contention, and making it considerably harder to write them off.
Looking back, I think that stretch may have been putting lipstick on a pig. They were not a great team, but they played really well long enough to make the season look better and get themselves into the playoffs.
Naturally, I still talked myself into their chances.
That is part of being a fan. You can spend six months pointing out everything wrong with your team, but once they make the postseason, you start explaining how they could win. Maybe the pitching carries them. Maybe the lineup gets hot at the right time. It is a short series. Anything can happen.
Unfortunately, what happened was that Boston did not play well and lost the series in two games.
There is something particularly frustrating about waiting all season for playoff baseball and having it end that quickly. During the regular season, a bad night usually means you try again tomorrow. In a three-game series, there is very little room to figure things out.
The Yankees moved on, but they did not stay much longer. The Rays swept them in three games in the next round.
I certainly enjoyed that part. I would like to say I am above rooting against the Yankees after the Red Sox are eliminated, but there is no reason to lie to everyone.
Now, with four teams remaining, I am still watching. My team is home, but this is still one of my favorite times of the sports calendar. Football is well underway, baseball is down to its final few weeks, and there is usually something worth putting on when I get home.
Postseason baseball also feels different when you do not have a team involved. I can appreciate a great pitching performance without wondering why our lineup cannot get a hit. I can enjoy a close game without getting frustrated with every bullpen decision. There is considerably less stress, although I would happily take that stress back if it meant Boston was still playing.
What I enjoy most is watching how much can come down to one decision or one opportunity. A manager leaves his starter in for another batter. A runner tries to take an extra base. Someone comes off the bench and gets the biggest hit of the night. Over a full season, those moments can blend together. In October, they can become the thing everyone remembers.
That is what I was hoping to see when we went to Game 1. Instead, I watched the Red Sox lose and gave myself a very short night of sleep.
I am still glad I went. Being in the stadium for that matchup was worth experiencing, even if I would have preferred to give the Yankees fans in our section a little less to enjoy.
For now, I will watch the remaining teams finish what Boston could not. Then there will be an offseason of moves to question, decisions to complain about, and reasons to convince myself next year will be better, if there is a next year.
By spring, I am sure I will have talked myself into it again.
Investment advice offered through Great Valley Advisor Group, a Registered Investment Advisor. Great Valley Advisor Group and Nexa Financial Group are separate entities.
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