Boston Red Sox Continue Tradition of Playing Early Morning Game on Patriots Day

As the world's elite runners race through Kenmore Square on Monday, April 21, for the 129th running of the Boston Marathon, the Boston Red Sox will take to the field at Fenway Park. The first pitch will come just as the shouts from a street away reach their high point.

As thousands of runners begin the 26.2-mile journey from Hopkinton, conquer Heartbreak Hill, and eventually cross the finish line on Boylston Street, the Boston Red Sox continue their unique Patriots Day tradition of a baseball matchup in the morning.  

Boston's game against the White Sox on April 21 will feature a familiar first-pitch starting time of 11:10 a.m. As unusual as the Red Sox's morning start time might be when compared to the rest of the league, it's an annual tradition that goes back more than 50 years. 

According to the Boston Red Sox's team history, Boston has played at Fenway Park on Patriots Day every year since 1959. Since 1968, Patriots Day at Fenway has featured a single game with a start time between 11 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. 

“The Red Sox have scheduled late-morning starts for their Patriots Day home games since 1968 so fans can walk over to Kenmore Square afterward and cheer on the competitors in the Boston Marathon,” The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham noted in March 2021.

When the 11 a.m. start time was first planned, the ending of the Red Sox game was expected to coincide with the final stretch of the elite runners making their way through Kenmore Square and toward Boylston Street. The race was traditionally set for a start time around noon since its inaugural run in 1897. 

According to Boston.com, the Red Sox have committed to the 11 a.m. time block over the years, even though several Patriots Day games at Fenway Park had been called off due to weather (1959, 1961, 1965, 1967, 1984, and 2018), the MLB players strike (1995), and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020).