Everyone thought they knew exactly what was missing throughout this pandemic-induced stretch when it came to no (or very few) fans in the stands.
But in case there was any question, along came one moment early Saturday evening that allowed for a pretty powerful reminder.
For that, you can thank Adam Ottavino.
Prior to yesterday's 3-1 Red Sox win over the Marlins there had been plenty of hold-your-breath moments in those 111 games. Each had been accompanied by either the celebratory shouts from the Sox dugout, or perhaps simply more quiet in an already morbid setting.
Not this time.
With the Red Sox clinging to a 2-0 lead and bases loaded and the Marlins No. 3 and 4 hitters (Jesus Aguillar, Garrett Cooper) coming to bat, the buzz that had been gone for nearly 21 months returned.
First came the eruption from Aguillar wildly swinging and missing at an out-of-the-zone Ottavino 3-2 slider (resulting in the Marlins' slugger breaking his bat thanks to pretty prolific bat slam). And then there was the second strikeout.
The crowd -- seemingly all 25,089 of them -- went wild. And for a few seconds, the normally reserved Ottavino joined them.
If there was any doubt, Here was Ottavino after the game ...
“Yeah, I think the crowd was what made it a little different than it's been so, just a lot of energy in the moment, especially once I got to two strikes on the last guy so just kind of out of body experience there, glad I was able to make the pitch and just kind of blacked out.
“Yeah, I mean, not to get like fired up but to like show emotion, yeah probably a little bit unlike me. I usually like just keep my head down and make my pitches. I don't know. My wife always says, What are you looking at? And I'm always just like looking at the ground and the catcher and that’s it.
“Yeah, that was awesome. Like the crowd brought it today. That's what's been missing is those two-strike moments, you know, at home and I feel like that puts a lot of pressure on the hitter that didn't exist last year. It’s a great feeling to be the guy on the mound in that spot. You feel like you have the advantage you're about to just have a big release there.”
An inning later, Hirokazu Sawamura followed suit, letting out a scream wild pounding his chest after an inning-ending strikeout of Jose Devers.
Laundry carts are well and good, but this was something different.
Starter Nathan Eovaldi pitched really well. Rafael Devers and Hunter Renfroe each had three hits. And the Red Sox won.
It was a win those who were there won't be forgetting any time soon.
“It was awesome," said Red Sox bench coach Will Venable, who was filling in for Alex Cora. "A lot of energy out there, a lot of excitement. I know the guys were really feeding off that. A couple guys came into the dugout and were just talking about how electric it was and I think it was a great experience for them and obviously some tense plays out there, some tense moments but the crowd was into it and I think everyone enjoyed it, for sure.”