Orioles 4, Red Sox 2

 

The Boston Red Sox are playing three-dimensional, possibly four-dimensional, chess. The front office has apparently made a business decision that Fenway Park at this point is just a tourist attraction and a luxury perk for corporate managers, and will make money no matter the quality of the team they put on the field. The luxury suites are already sold out for years in advance, and college students, the Fenway faithful, and tourists will still buy tickets regardless of the quality of the team, so why pay more money for superstar players or big-salary pitchers? That just eats into the profit margin.

But the players - and here's the 3-D chess move - recognize the owners' gambit and are countering by winning as few games as possible in Fenway. The team can go 2-1 against the first-place Guardians in Cleveland and are 16-14 on the road this season, but haven't even won 10 games at home all season. Their 9-20 home record is the worst in all of baseball. They're deliberately sabotaging the attraction of attending  Fenway, tanking the home games, while still maintaining a barely competitive overall win-loss record. Eventually, the front office will be forced to spend some money to shore up their investment in the Fenway cash cow. Genius!

Case in point: last night, the Red Sox, fresh off winning their road series in Cleveland, fell, 4-2, to the Orioles in Fenway. Both Boston runs were off sac flies, and the promising young Connelly Early gave up six hits and four runs in 5⅓ innings. Orioles pitched Shane Paz entered the game with a 3-5 record and a 4.29 ERA, but went seven full innings with only two runs on four hits and got the win.

Entering this series, Boston (25-34) had a chance of moving out of last place in the AL East. Now, the best they can hope for is to finish the home stand at one game back from Baltimore and Toronto. And as far as first place?  Fuhgeddaboudit.

Today's starter for Baltimore, Chris Bassett (4-3, 5.06), is a career 2-3 against the Sox in nine starts. The last time he pitched at Fenway (June 28, 2025), he was with the Jays and lasted only two innings, giving up eight earned runs in a 15-1 Boston beatdown of Toronto.

Payton Tolle (2-2, 2.61) makes his first career start against Baltimore tonight. Tolle not only has Boston's best ERA for a starter, he also owns the best WHIP (0.90) and the lowest BAA (.176) of any pitcher on the team with more than three starts. Statistically, he's our best hope for a win - even at home - and if Bassett would be kind enough to repeat last year's performance, we might have a chance.