Timing is everything
Sox fans would be game for a late-night rally
When most people smack the snooze button and flop off their beds at 4 a.m., they don’t expect to turn on the radio and hear a baseball postgame show in its infancy. In Boston yesterday morning, early risers might have been a bit confused after the Red Sox and Dodgers battled into the early morning hours in Game 3 of the World Series, a game that mercifully ended at exactly 3:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, 7 hours and 20 minutes after Walker Buehler fired his first pitch into the catcher’s mitt. Buehler, who pitched an absolute gem for the Dodgers, walked off the mound to thunderous applause from the Dodger faithful, who finally filled in their seats after the early-for-them start time of 5:10 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. The fact that so many people stayed in their seats so late into the L. A. night and were around to cheer not only Buehler, but also Max Muncy’s blast in the bottom of the 18th inning, did well to dispel the notion that fans there are a fickle bunch when it comes to timing. There’s no doubt start times make a difference. It’s like at Fenway Park here in Boston, where the 8:10 p.m. start time would have near-perfect attendance. We saw that in Games 1 and 2. Thankfully, we did not test the 3:30 a.m. theory in those games — 12:30 a.m. was late enough here. But it’s an interesting question to consider, if it had happened here. My money is on the sellout crowd having thinned, but the majority — and far more than if it had happened in the regular season — would have stayed, if only to continue to cheer Nathan Eovaldi’s masterful and gutsy performance of seven innings and 97 pitches out of the bullpen. Red Sox fans are nothing if not loyal. That said, would it hurt advertising dollars and ratings that much to give us on the right coast a breath er( and a chance to make copy deadlines) with a 7 p.m. start once in a while? It might save the functionality of a snooze button or two.