Days of miracle and wonder.
Imagine what this must be like for incoming college freshmen on Park Drive, Bay State Road, and Commonwealth Avenue. It’s your first night in Boston and the evening’s periodically interrupted by joyous noise and pulsating lights from inside the ancient, hardball theater across the street from the Cask ‘n Flagon.
The Red Sox did it again Monday at Fenway Park. Winning a game that featured three lead changes and runs scored in every inning except the fourth, they rebounded from a three-run deficit in the eighth and bested the Mariners, 9-8, in the 10th when Trevor Story — playing his first Fenway game since May 14 — cracked a gapper to left-center with the bases loaded and one out.
“I’ve been watching the boys do it all year,” Story said. “It inspires me. These guys have done some great work. It’s what this team has been doing all year and I’m proud to be part of it.”
“That’s a big moment and a huge win,” said (still interim) Sox manager Chad Tracy. “There were countless moments you could point to where the game flipped.”
“Best fans in the world,” said 22-year-old Roman Anthony, who has four hits in his first two games after a frustrating three months on the shelf with a mysterious hand injury.
It’s finally September and after an awful first half (32-46) and a historic midsummer (43-18), the Red Sox are almost exactly where they were at this time last year, apparently bound for the same postseason matchup — a best-of-three joust vs. the Yankees, with the entire series being played at Yankee Stadium.
Boston’s four-game Bronx weekend was disappointing, with the Sox dropping three of the four by an aggregate 26-9. The super-hyped end-of-summer series pushed the Yanks to a season-high 19 games over .500 and may have snuffed out the Sox’ last chance to overtake their hated rivals. New York has a terrific bullpen, and its offense will only get better when Aaron Judge returns.
When the final story of this wonderful, kooky season is told, the record will show that the Sox trailed the Yankees by 15½ games on June 24, pulled to within a half-game on Aug. 7, but never vaulted ahead. The Sox lost two of three in the Bronx last October and seem securely locked into going there again Sept. 29 through Oct. 1 for the first round of these playoffs.
They have played postseason games at Fenway only once in the last seven seasons. It would be a shame if they don’t get to next month, as so many of their July-August games were five-star, theatrical masterpieces.
Evidently resigned and content with their probable position in the 2026 postseason tournament, the Sox on Tuesday elected to tank Game 2 of the Mariners series, rolling out rookie Jedixson Paez for his fourth big league game. The wide-eyed kid was predictably pummeled (8 runs, 10 hits, 2 homers, 3⅔ innings) in a 9-6 Boston loss. Twenty-three regular-season games remain.
Independent of Tuesday’s debacle, the 2026 Sox have trademarked dramatic, preposterous comebacks with performances by a chorus line of overachieving no-names. Everybody got in on the act Monday, but the comeback successes of Story and Anthony should not overshadow another homer by Mickey Gasper, more winning play from Nick Sogard, and two innings of clutch relief from a lefty named Alec Gamboa.
If you are old enough to remember the Cardiac Kids of 1967, you are telling the young’uns that this team reminds you of that team, with Ceddanne Rafaela playing the role of Reggie Smith.
There is no comp from any old days that can match the Gasper story. A 30-year-old, 5-foot-9-inch son of Merrimack, N.H., a career minor leaguer who failed to get his first major league hit in 18 at-bats with the 2024 Red Sox, Gasper in the month of August batted .400 with six homers and an OPS of 1.671 — a number that puts him alongside the likes of Barry Bonds and Ted Williams in the best months in baseball history. He then started September with a homer in his first at-bat Tuesday.
Accordingly, there was some fan outrage Sunday when Anthony Seigler and Gasper were sent back to Worcester to make room for rehabbed Story and Anthony. Seigler and (particularly) Gasper were the faces of Boston’s surge, 4-A players dumped by other organizations, hanging on to the dream in Triple-A Worcester. Both overachieved wildly when the Sox surged, particularly Gasper. The notion that the big club could casually cast him aside rubbed some fans the wrong way.
When the Sox were annihilated by the Yankees, 16-1, in their first game after cutting Gasper, I immediately went to my home office and starting typing the first draft of “The Curse of Mickey Gasper.”
Alas, the theme dissolved Monday afternoon when Gasper was recalled to replace Sox slugger Willson Contreras, who is sidelined with a hamstring injury.
And then Gasper homered into the Sox’ bullpen in the first inning.
Of course.
It was only the beginning of a mad, magical night at Fenway — the 34th comeback win of this Sox season and their fifth walkoff.
Get used to it, you freshman first-timers in the Back Bay and beyond. This is Boston and it is September and the Red Sox and their fans are having a blast. Join the party. You’ll remember it for the rest of your life.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy.