By Tiffany Williams –
BOSTON — They say Sundays were meant for football.
Don’t tell baseball fans in New England.
There may be no better place to spend a summer Sunday than inside one of New England’s minor league ballparks or sitting beneath the unmistakable lights and green steel of Fenway Park.
Football can wait.
There is still serious baseball business to handle.
The Boston Red Sox finally lost Saturday, snapping a nine-game winning streak that had turned another stretch of the summer into their personal demolition tour through Major League Baseball.
One loss doesn’t erase what has happened.
Not even close.
Boston’s nine-game streak was its second-longest of the season, trailing only the franchise-record-tying 15-game winning streak from July 3 through the first game of a July 22 doubleheader.
Think about that for a moment.
Two separate winning streaks of at least nine games in the same season.
The only other Red Sox teams to accomplish that were the 2018, 1948, 1942 and 1912 clubs.
That’s the neighborhood these Red Sox have entered.
Boston is 11-2 over its last 13 games.
The Red Sox are 27-4 since July 3, 32-6 since June 25 and 35-9 since June 19.
No Major League Baseball team owns a better record over any of those stretches.
Saturday stopped the winning streak.
It did not stop the bigger surge.
Boston owns the third-best record in the American League and seventh-best mark in baseball at .552.
The Red Sox are also tied with the Detroit Tigers for the best run differential in the American League at plus-85, fifth-best in the majors.
Now comes Sunday.
And this one matters.
A victory would give Boston its 10th consecutive series win, something the franchise has accomplished only once before.
That would move these Red Sox within one series of tying the franchise record of 11 consecutive series victories established from Aug. 4 through Sept. 15, 1912.
Yes, 1912.
That’s how far back you have to travel.
Boston is already 12-3-0 across its last 15 series dating to June 12.
Winning one game can be a fluke.
Winning one series can happen.
Keep winning series after series after series, and eventually there is nowhere left to hide from what the numbers are saying.
This team has been beating people consistently.
Fenway Park has become an especially miserable destination for visiting clubs.
Boston is 4-1 on its six-game homestand against the Chicago White Sox and Athletics entering Sunday’s finale.
The Red Sox swept Chicago and split the first two against the Athletics.
Boston has collected at least 10 hits in four of the five games during the homestand while batting .341 and scoring 46 runs.
The Red Sox have produced 27 extra-base hits during those five games, including 20 doubles and seven home runs, while posting a .407 on-base percentage and .970 OPS.
That’s not an offense scraping together enough runs to survive.
That’s an offense attacking.
Boston is 12-3 in 15 home games since the All-Star break and 17-5 over its last 22 games at Fenway dating to June 25.
Saturday ended a five-game home winning streak, one victory short of matching the club’s longest of the season.
And Fenway will continue to matter.
Of Boston’s 68 second-half games, 37 are at home.
Sixteen of the club’s 24 games between July 17 and Aug. 9 were scheduled at Fenway.
That home-field opportunity means nothing unless the Red Sox take advantage of it.
So far, they certainly have.
And this lineup isn’t surviving because one superstar is dragging everybody else around.
The damage is coming from everywhere.
Wilyer Abreu, Willson Contreras, Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela have each reached at least 15 home runs and 60 RBIs.
No other American League team has four players at those thresholds.
Washington is the only other major league club matching Boston with four.
Since the All-Star break, Andruw Monasterio ranks third in the American League with a 1.024 OPS.
Willson Contreras ranks sixth at .965.
Wilyer Abreu is seventh at .939.
Ceddanne Rafaela is eighth at .921.
Four Red Sox hitters sitting among the league’s top eight in OPS tells you exactly why opposing pitchers haven’t been able to breathe.
There is another threat waiting.
Then another.
Then another.
Boston’s winning streak is gone.
Its chance to make another piece of franchise history is not.
But Boston isn’t the only place where Sunday baseball carries some weight.
Up in New Hampshire, the Portland Sea Dogs desperately need a response.
Saturday was ugly.
No sugarcoating necessary.
The Sea Dogs were annihilated 14-0 by the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
Portland managed five hits, went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded six runners.
Ronald Rosario’s second-inning double was Portland’s only extra-base hit.
New Hampshire kept piling on.
Two runs came across in the second inning, four in the fifth, one in the sixth, two in the seventh and five more in the eighth.
Aaron Parker launched a grand slam against Michael Sansone during the fifth.
Victor Arias added another grand slam in the eighth after position player Ahbram Liendo entered to pitch with two outs and the bases loaded.
Every New Hampshire hitter recorded at least one hit.
Six finished with multiple hits.
That is about as thorough a beating as a baseball team can take.
Now Portland gets a Sunday opportunity to erase some of the taste.
And strangely enough, Sunday has been the Sea Dogs’ day.
Portland is 11-5 on Sundays this season, its best record on any day of the week.
The Sea Dogs are 5-3 in Sunday road games.
A victory would also secure Portland’s eighth consecutive series win or tie.
The Sea Dogs haven’t lost a series since facing Reading during the week of June 9.
This team has shown it can score.
It showed that Wednesday when Portland erupted for a season-high 15 runs.
That performance surpassed its previous season high of 13.
The Sea Dogs also hit at least three home runs for the 17th time this season.
Since at least 2005, Portland had never previously recorded more than 13 games with three or more home runs in a single season.
Then Saturday happened.
Baseball can humble you quickly.
Portland’s numbers make the offensive equation painfully simple.
When the Sea Dogs score three runs or fewer, they’re 13-27 overall and 5-18 on the road.
When they reach four runs, everything changes.
Portland is 42-23 overall and 23-10 on the road when scoring at least four.
That’s not complicated.
Four runs can completely change what this team looks like.
Brooks Brannon remains one of Portland’s biggest weapons after hitting his team-leading 18th home run Friday.
His .921 OPS ranks second among qualified Eastern League hitters.
Ahbram Liendo has also been one of Portland’s most consistent offensive contributors.
Liendo carries a six-game hitting streak and 16-game on-base streak.
He has reached safely in 43 of his last 47 games dating to May 29.
During that span, Ahbram Liendo is batting .301 with an .872 OPS, 33 RBIs, seven doubles, five home runs, 23 walks and 11 stolen bases.
Then there’s Will Turner, whose batting average tells only part of his story.
Turner is hitting .189.
Look deeper.
His .387 on-base percentage ranks sixth in the Eastern League.
Will Turner recorded his 71st walk Thursday, leading the Eastern League and ranking second across Double-A despite playing only 76 games.
That is plate discipline.
Jedixson Paez gets the ball Sunday for Portland.
The right-hander is scheduled to make his seventh start and 16th appearance of the season.
Paez most recently pitched Aug. 5, throwing 1.1 scoreless innings while allowing one hit and striking out three to earn his third save.
His previous start came Aug. 1, when he worked a season-high five innings and surrendered four runs on seven hits, including a home run.
The road that brought Jedixson Paez back to the Red Sox organization wasn’t straightforward.
The Chicago White Sox selected him in the 2025 Rule 5 Draft.
He made his Major League debut on Opening Day but posted an 18.00 ERA across three appearances before being designated for assignment and returned to Boston.
Now he’s trying to help Portland rebound from a 14-run beating.
Elsewhere in the Red Sox system, several arms continue putting together impressive stretches.
Angel Bastardo has been vicious across his last six relief appearances, allowing three hits and one earned run across 11 innings while walking nobody and striking out 21.
Twenty-one strikeouts.
Zero walks.
That’s dominance.
Wyatt Olds has struck out 38 batters over 25 innings across his last 22 relief appearances.
Eduardo Rivera is 2-0 across his last six appearances, including one start, while allowing only five hits and one earned run over 12.2 innings.
And then there’s Hartford.
The Yard Goats arrive Sunday in Binghamton staring directly at a season-high six-game losing streak.
There is no dancing around that either.
Hartford needs a win.
The Yard Goats conclude their six-game series against the New York Mets-affiliated Binghamton Rumble Ponies at Mirabito Stadium before finally heading home.
Hartford entered Sunday at 54-52 overall and 15-23 in the second half.
That second-half record has been rough.
But this is also a team already holding a postseason ticket.
Hartford clinched the Northeast Division first-half championship June 19, the earliest playoff clincher in franchise history.
The Yard Goats finished the first half 39-29 after holding first place for 23 of the final 24 days.
They will host Game 2 of the Eastern League Division Series on Sept. 17 and, if necessary, Game 3 on Sept. 18 at Dunkin’ Park.
That postseason berth is secure.
How Hartford is playing right now is another matter.
Connor Staine gets Sunday’s assignment.
The right-hander makes his 19th start and 20th appearance while seeking his eighth victory.
Staine enters among the Eastern League leaders in several pitching categories, ranking eighth in ERA, seventh in innings pitched, tied for second in opponents’ batting average and seventh in WHIP.
He posted a 3.00 ERA across 12 consecutive starts covering 60 innings from April 22 through June 26.
During May, Connor Staine went 4-0 with a 3.08 ERA across five starts.
A victory Sunday would make him only the third Yard Goats pitcher since 2019 to reach eight wins.
Hartford also has individual offensive production worth watching.
Andy Perez leads the Eastern League in hits and ranks third in batting average.
Dyan Jorge has stolen 42 bases, the second-highest total in Yard Goats history.
Roc Riggio is tied for third in doubles and tied for fourth in extra-base hits.
GJ Hill is tied for sixth in stolen bases and has been one of Hartford’s hottest hitters recently, batting .345 with three home runs and eight RBIs over his last 10 games.
Fidel Ulloa has converted his last six save opportunities and allowed only two earned runs since May 7.
The talent is there.
The postseason reservation is already made.
But six straight losses are six straight losses.
Sunday gives Hartford another opportunity to stop it.
That’s what makes baseball in New England worth watching right now.
Boston had a nine-game winning streak snapped and immediately gets another shot at history.
Portland got embarrassed 14-0 and gets the ball again less than 24 hours later on its best day of the week.
Hartford has lost six straight but already knows postseason baseball is waiting in September.
One game ends.
Another starts.
Yesterday’s hero can disappear today.
Yesterday’s disaster can be forgotten tomorrow.
So yes, Sundays may eventually belong to football.
But not yet.
Not while Fenway Park is alive.
Not while minor league parks across New England are open.
Not while Boston is chasing a 10th consecutive series victory, Portland is trying to answer a 14-run humiliation and Hartford is fighting to stop a six-game slide.
It’s Aug. 9.
There is plenty of summer left.
And around here, Sunday still belongs to baseball.