The "best" is sometimes hard to define, particularly without a scoreboard. But let's put it this way: The crowd that showed up at Fenway Park Tuesday night is in the conversation.
"I never heard a crowd like that before tonight," said Red Sox catcher Kevin Plawecki told WEEI.com the Red Sox' 6-2 Wild Card win over the Yankees. "First pitch it felt different to me, and it was the first pitch. Just how loud it was. I didn’t expect it. But these fans brought it for us all year. From that first pitch they were with us all night and they didn’t stop and thank God we were able to add on."
"It was special," added Red Sox centerfielder Kiké Hernandez. "This place was rocking. This place was electric. We heard it somewhat like this during the regular season, but it didn’t quite get to this level."
It was that good.
While it would be easy to suggest that what we witnessed with the sellout crowd this time around couldn't possibly compare with the World Series gatherings of years past, there is a case to be made for Tuesday night.
To begin with, the altered demographic everyone has noticed throughout the 2021 season -- with a much younger crew making up a good chunk of the attendance -- carried over to the postseason.
Then there was the feeling that the followers of Boston sports were a bit desperate to start pounding their chest again. Not only was there the opportunity to put that walking-on-egg-shells feeling in the rearview mirror when it came to pandemic-induced anxieties (offering the "we were finally let out of the house" vibe), but it also returned some bragging rights.
The Moral Victory Monday that had to be leaned on after Sunday night's Tom Brady reunion was no longer a thing.
New York brought its best and Boston beat it. And those inside Fenway Park were going to make sure everybody knew it.
"They were really hungry for us to win this game," Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez told WEEI.com when talking about the Fenway crowd.
You could tell.
