The Red Sox and NESN did everything they could to recreate the atmosphere of the 1975 World Series tonight. From the two teams on the field, to Jahmai Webster’s snazzy outfit, to interviews with former players, and even a retro graphics package.
But unfortunately, another key feature of the 1975 World Series also showed up tonight: Bad weather. 50 years ago, it was a three day nor’easter that created a five day gap between Game 5 and the legendary Game 6 of that series, and tonight it was a repetitive round of summer thunderstorms associated with stationary front.
Before the skies opened, they did manage to get three innings in, and keeping with the 1975 theme, the Red Sox scored a pair of runs in familiarly fashion from that year.
Here’s a rookie wearing No. 19 and being productive with an opposite field swing.
And here’s a guy playing catcher driving in the run that’s currently the difference in the game.
If the theme holds overnight, the Red Sox should win this on a walk-off home run tomorrow when things resume at 2:30pm in the top of the 4th inning. (Tickets for tonight’s game will be good for readmission, and the regularly scheduled game on Wednesday remains a go at 7:10 p.m.)
One last odd nugget: The 1975 World Series was pushed from a day game to a night game by the rain, and this one has been pushed from a night game that will finish during the day. Baseball is just weird sometimes.
Pitching wise, the Sox will have to find a way to cover the final six innings via bullpen work, and then also cover whatever Brayan Bello leaves on the table after his start in the second game, so the arms in the pen are going to have a busy day.
UPDATE: Brayan Bello is now going to pitch in this suspended game and the Sox will see how close he can get them to the end of it. As of 10:30pm, the starter for Game 2 (the regularly scheduled game on Wednesday evening) is now unknown.
