The most passionate fans in professional sports soon will get to pack Fenway Park once again, and Alex Verdugo is looking forward to it.
The Boston Red Sox outfielder hasn't been able to play in front of a full house since being traded ahead of the 2020 season, but this weekend, America's most beloved ballpark can return to its maximum capacity.
"I'm excited, I really am," Verdugo on Wednesday said ahead of Boston's game against the Atlanta Braves. "I think it's going to help just having that home-field advantage. It's one of those things, just having a sold-out crowd, they've already been great now, the fans we've been able to have have been loud, making a lot of noise, it's just something different about having a full sold-out crowd. It's going to be fun again and it will kind of help us just have that extra adrenaline right off the bat."
The Red Sox currently allow 25 percent capacity at home games, but the team hasn't necessarily performed consistently in front of them.
While in Boston, they've hovered around a .500 record all season, and manager Alex Cora has said that more fans and better music could solve that issue.
Regardless, Verdugo doesn't seem to be reading too much into the Red Sox's record at home.
"I don't think we see it as that, we don't see it as a tough time winning at home," Verdugo said. "There's been some close ballgames that we haven't taken, but at the end of the day, our record, we have a good record. Obviously we're not complacent on it, but our record is where it's at. We're at the top of our division, we're right there at the top. We've got to keep playing, keep winning. It's not a home or road thing, when we start clicking on everything, the hitting, putting the ball in play, getting runners in from third with less than two outs. As soon as we handle those little things, the results will change. It has nothing to do with being home or away."
The Red Sox will welcome more fans back Saturday as the host the Miami Marlins.
