608 days.
That's how long it had been since September 29, 2019, when the Boston Red Sox hosted the Baltimore Orioles for a season closing game to finish off a disappointing campaign. At the time, the talk around town was focused on how the team could bounce back to championship form.
No one knew that would be the last time Fenway Park could be navigated without looking through the lens of COVID-19.
But on Saturday, for the first time since that unremarkable fall day almost two years ago, Fenway Park welcomed back fans without capacity restrictions to watch the Red Sox take on the Miami Marlins in one of the biggest signs that life is starting to return to normal in Massachusetts.
Unlike last year, where the Sox played in an empty ballpark with piped-in crowd noise, the team had welcomed fans back this season, but with reduced numbers. But as the state dropped its remaining COVID-related restrictions Saturday, Fenway returned to a more proper form.
Andrew Munro from Northborough was at the game with his wife, Anna, and two kids, Adam and Rebecca, who were attending their first Sox game. He was fine with being in the crowd.
"My wife and I are fully vaccinated, so you know we feel very comfortable," he told GBH News. "We've all got our masks on anyway and people, I think, are being very respectful of people's space, so I feel good about it."
Lines stretched out of bars and restaurants surrounding Fenway. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, threw out the ceremonial first pitch to a standing ovation.
It was a mixed bag of masked and maskless fans in attendance. Fans who had not been fully vaccinated were asked to continue to wear their masks, but there was no way of telling who had gotten their shots and who hadn't.
Whether it was COVID-related anxiety or the persistent cold wet rain or a combination of both, there were still plenty of seats available.
Kiel Mitchell and his six-year-old son, Andrew, had come up from Rhode Island for Friday's game, the last game with reduced capacity. The two were playing catch on Landsdowne, but didn't plan to attend any games with full capacity, at least for a little while.
"My wife and I are both fully vaccinated...we have a 6 and 3-year-old, until we can get them vaccinated, we don't feel comfortable bringing them to a ballpark with 37,000 people," he said.
Even if some folks are still staying home, the 25,089 fans in attendance gave a spirit that Fenway had been missing up to this point as Boston has navigated the pandemic.
Red Sox president Sam Kennedy told reporters that the day was a bit emotional.
"We're seeing people who we haven't seen in person for some cases a year plus," he said. "We're just starting to reopen our front offices. Many of us have been together, but many of us have not been. It's emotional and, really, frankly exciting."
The Red Sox took care of business and beat the Marlins 3-1 in the fan homecoming. Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi attested to what they did for the team.
"They were definitely brining the energy, you could definitely tell the excitement was there in the stadium, so I mean it was awesome having them out there and even better that we were able to get that win tonight," he said.
And it is not just baseball welcoming people back. The Celtics and Bruins are both hosted playoff games this weekend at TD Garden with near full capacity.
