“If these were home games we would be sold out from tonight to Wednesday,” said Shane McWeeny, general manager of Hotel Commonwealth near Kenmore Square. “We’re looking forward to the Yankees losing and ready for the Sox to bring it home.”
Independent hotels like Hotel Commonwealth see less guest traffic during the Jewish High Holidays, which this year fall in late September and early October.
Both McWeeny and John Beebe-Center, general manager of the Verb Hotel, said the hotels could have used the boost in occupancy from visiting fans during a relatively quiet period.
“When the Red Sox make the playoffs, the city and Fenway feel compressed,” said Beebe-Center. ”But with them not being home this week in particular, hotels take a hit.”
The new playoff format was introduced in 2022, one year after the last Sox October run. This postseason bracket-style tournament includes 12 teams in total, an increase from a previous format that had 10 teams. Each league has six teams, the three division winners and three wild card teams.
(John Henry, the principal owner of Fenway Sports Group, is the owner of The Boston Globe.)
The Sox play at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, Wednesday, and, if necessary, Thursday. If they win, the Red Sox will have a chance to play home games in the following series.
“I don’t like [the new format] at all,” said Kadin Wilson, a Sox fan who traveled from Utah to watch the last series of the regular season, in which the Red Sox faced the Detroit Tigers. “Each team should have at least one home game in the best of three.”
Wilson said he would have been one of the thousands of people who would travel to Boston to watch a series against the Yankees, but he has no desire to set foot in Yankee Stadium.
Neither does Lee Rogers, 59, from Arkansas.
“I’m not a New York fan. Don’t like the city, don’t like the Yankees,” he said. If the series was held at Fenway, he would go in a heartbeat.
“It’s a cathedral. It’s what a ballpark should be,” he said. “You can go to new places that are nice and shiny, but you don’t have the history and tradition that you have here.”
While some hotels are hopelessly hoping for a home game, the bars and restaurants circling Fenway are looking at sold-out nights, new menu items, and watch parties as die-hard fans look for a place to go.
Without a game to catch at Fenway, bars will see fans come in earlier and leave later, said Vincent Lombardi, vice president of operations at Lyons Group, which owns five bars near the ballpark.
“The Red Sox going to the playoffs is good for the atmosphere of the city and economically for businesses in Lansdowne and Back Bay. It brings a special type of excitement,” he said.
On Monday, film crews set up lighting equipment and tripods at Game On and the Bleachers bar, which is located inside the ballpark’s building and has an open wall with a view onto the field. The crew created marketing content for playoffs-themed drinks, menu items, and merchandise.
“I feel like a kid again,” said Lombardi.
The scene was similar across the street, at Cask ‘n Flagon. Red Sox memorabilia and posters cluttered the bar’s walls. Since its opening in 1969, it has hosted numerous watch parties and celebrations, including a particular one in 2004.
Jimmy Regalado, the bar’s general manager, said the place is not likely to be at full capacity in comparison to a home game, but still expects it to be busy on game days.
“It makes a huge difference if [the Red Sox] host more games,” he said. “There is a pump in the atmosphere that you can’t describe.”