Tuesday night’s 35-degree first-pitch temperature marked the third-coldest first pitch at a Red Sox home game at Fenway Park since Baseball-Reference started tracking them, according to The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey.
Monday wasn’t much better at 38 degrees, and by Wednesday, it barely cracked 46, which felt genuinely spring-like by comparison.
While other teams across the Majors have made adjustments to account for the unseasonably cold weather this season, the Red Sox —notably team President Sam Kennedy—opted to stick to the script. Boston kept their night games against the Blue Jays at 6:45 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, despite the bitter conditions and sparse crowds.
Cora noted that he asked team president Sam Kennedy about moving up the start times, according to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, but the team declined, citing concerns over inconveniencing fans who had planned for night games.
“The fan base and all that— all that stuff comes into play,” Cora said. “[Tuesday] was uncomfortable, but both teams were uncomfortable.”
The Sox announced 25,575 tickets sold for Tuesday’s game, but only a little over 14,000 fans actually made it through the gates.
The Blue Jays —who play their games in Rogers Centre, which has a retractable roof —haven’t seemed to be bothered by the cold. They’ve outscored Boston 14-4 in the series. The Red Sox have four errors in the three games; the Jays have three.
Elsewhere in the league, the Detroit Tigers took a more fan- (and player-) friendly approach. They bumped up the start times for all three of their home games against the New York Yankees in Detroit. Instead of 6:40 p.m. starts, they played at 3:10 p.m. on Monday and 1:10 p.m. on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
The New York Mets followed a similar suit, moving Tuesday’s first pitch against the Marlins from 7:10 p.m. to 4:10 p.m. (Wednesday’s game was already scheduled for 1:10 p.m.)
The Red Sox bats have been frozen in their entire series against the Toronto Blue Jays, one that ends today with a 4:35PM start at Fenway. Boston struck out 14 times in last night’s 2-1 loss.
“A lot of strikeouts. (Gausman) elevated the fastball, and we couldn’t catch up,” said Cora, per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. “We’ve just got to make adjustments. We have to, as a group. But we trust our players; we trust our group. Just one bad night.”
Red Sox Brass Ignored Cora’s Push to Spare Players, Fans From Brutal Cold