The Atlantic

The Red Sox Need a World Series Win

Anything short of a championship would in many ways render Boston’s entire season a failure.
Source: Troy Taormina / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

Fenway Park was euphoric.

The Red Sox may have lumbered through the game’s first seven innings and found themselves in a five-run hole in the bottom of the eighth, but suddenly the team’s bats came alive. Out of nowhere, Christian Vazquez was hustling as fast as his catcher’s legs could take him toward home, narrowly shimmying around a tag at the plate to tie the game. And then a long fly ball was crashing into the Green Monster’s scoreboard, and Mookie Betts was rounding third to give the Sox the lead and, later, the victory.

It was exhilarating. It was triumphant. It was the feeling that inspires normally levelheaded people to throw

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic5 min read
The Strangest Job in the World
This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here. The role of first lady couldn’t be stranger. You attain the position almost by accident, simply by virtue of being married to the president
The Atlantic6 min read
The Happy Way to Drop Your Grievances
Want to stay current with Arthur’s writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out. In 15th-century Germany, there was an expression for a chronic complainer: Greiner, Zanner, which can be translated as “whiner-grumbler.” It was no
The Atlantic6 min read
There’s Only One Way to Fix Air Pollution Now
It feels like a sin against the sanctitude of being alive to put a dollar value on one year of a human life. A year spent living instead of dead is obviously priceless, beyond the measure of something so unprofound as money. But it gets a price tag i

Related Books & Audiobooks