It's easy to suggest that swinging by Fenway Park Monday night was a good choice.
When you have a moment like the one Alex Verdugo supplied -- hitting a game-winning, eighth-inning, two-run homer to hand the Red Sox a 5-4 win over the Blue Jays -- it certainly lends itself to celebration.
But what Verdugo's blast did was simply reinforce what has become an expectation.
When the Red Sox play at Fenway these days, they are usually going to win and do so in a fashion that makes their paying customers feel like it has been a show worth attending.
"Obviously, this is a tough place to play," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora after this team improved to 62-39. "You can feel the energy. It felt like in that eighth inning, they were a little bit louder, kind of expecting something big."
The Red Sox are now 32-20 at Fenway, but perhaps most notably 17-7 since the ballpark was opened to full capacity and 13-3 in the last 16 games.
Suddenly, this is a team that has the fourth-most home wins in baseball. This is also a group with a major league-leading 33 come-from-behind victories, 12 of which came when trailing after five innings.
Get the picture?
"This is what Fenway Park is, right? We talk about it before the season. We have to make sure it’s a tough place to come here," Cora said. "It’s not a great place to come, enjoy it, have fun and kick our butt, you know? That’s what happened in ‘19 and it happened last year. Seems like we’re doing a better job here. Having fans in the stands is great for us. The music has gotten better, it’s a lot louder. We like it. We’re doing a good job here at home."
It wasn't too long ago that playing in this place was more sad trombone than Mardi Gras celebration. Through the first 26 home games, the Red Sox were sitting at an even .500 (13-13), with raucous crowds a distant memory.
To get an understanding of how morbid playing at Fenway had become, understand that from the outset of the 2019 season until June 24, the Red Sox held the 25th-worst home winning percentage (.463, 69-80). That after serving as the toughest home team to beat in baseball throughout 2018 (57-24, .704).
Add in the element of a fan base that has been seemingly saving up their enthusiasm for the better part of two years, and you have some of the more boisterous venues we have seen in some time.
This has hardly been a sit-on-your-hands, just-happy-to-be here dynamic.
For that, we can thank the perfect storm of electric baseball, home runs along the lines of what Verdugo supplied Monday night, and the desire of a fan base to put the misery of the last two seasons firmly in the rearview mirror.
“That’s what the tone is around here is we’re never out of the game," said Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta, who allowed four runs over 4 2/3 innings before allowing Phillips Valdez, Adam Ottavino and Matt Barnes to finish things off with 4 1/3 scoreless innings.
"Guys are competing at all times, and it’s great to see. We’re all picking each other up at every given time during the season, and I think that’s what’s helped us really be a strong core, and really are putting us in a really good position to do some special things this year. We just gotta keep our heads down, keep winning baseball games, keep winning series, and just focus on each game each night and then moving forward from there. I can’t be more proud of these guys. They’re doing a tremendous job right now.”