The Red Sox have a decision to make when they try to win a playoff series on Marathon Monday in Boston.
That’s a sentence no one has ever said or written before, but such is life in these crazy times. The Boston Marathon is being run Monday in the city, rescheduled from the spring to autumn for the first time ever. It just so happens to coincide with the Red Sox playing Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Fenway Park.
The Sox have a chance to eliminate the Tampa Bay Rays, and it all begs the important question: Which jerseys will the Red Sox wear in Game 4?
Boston’s fashion choices have been a big talking point down the stretch given the team’s success while wearing its yellow “City Connect” kits. Those uniforms were specifically designed to honor the Marathon and everything that comes with it, so might the Sox break them out Monday night?
Here are their options:
Traditional home whites (19-16 during regular season): If we were to make betting odds, this feels like the underdog. If it’s the pitcher’s choice, Eduardo Rodriguez — who gets the ball in Game 4 — seems to really prefer the alternates, which could take the traditional home whites out of contention.
Home red alternates (24-14): Don’t fix what’s not broken? The Sox wore these Sunday and that turned out OK. They also wore the reds in their AL Wild Card Game win over the New York Yankees.
“BOSTON” home white (1-0): You know the jerseys, the home whites that read “Boston” on the front — instead of “Red Sox” — with the “Boston Strong” logo. These are typically reserved for Patriots’ Day or Marathon Monday, and the Marathon technically is being run Monday. It would be a nice touch, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora seemingly hinted at these not being an option.
“I think those are out,” Cora told reporters over the weekend. “We wear one, and we give it to the (Red Sox Foundation for charity auctions), so they’re gone.”
“City Connect” yellow alternates (6-2): Imagine looking back in 30 years at photos and videos from a Red Sox series clincher and wondering why the heck they were wearing yellow. That’s certainly on the table Monday night given how much the players like the Marathon-inspired alternates. At one of their lowest points of the season, the Sox asked to wear the yellows, and they clearly felt good wearing them. Marathon Monday seems like the perfect excuse to break them out one more time.
Regardless of what the Red Sox decide on, the focus is on finding a way to win and making it a day to remember in Boston.
“It really doesn’t matter. Whatever we wear that day, it’s going to be a special day anyway, and we know what it means for everybody here,” Cora said.
“So we’ll go out there and play the right way, and hopefully we’ll make it more special.”
