Red Sox
This 2022 season must feel like an endless climb for the Red Sox.
I suspect that’s especially true now that they’re deep in the dog days of August and hoping for rescue some by earning a wild card spot gets a little weaker with every loss.
No need to rehash all the reasons for their Sisyphean woes here. Results may be mixed, but at least they’re still struggling to get that rock up the hill.
Maybe now they need the boost that comes from a reminder of why they fell in love with the game in the first place.
They’ll get one such chance Sunday night when they play the Orioles in the MLB Little League Classic on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. The game will be played at Historic Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pa., home of the Little League World Series.
The game offers a bit of synergy for ESPN, which currently airs the Little League World Series. But the game is no joke — the Orioles are one of the Red Sox’s contenders for a wildcard spot.
It’s a real stakes matchup, but also one that offers players a chance to breathe deeply and rediscover their roots in the game.
“It’s such a unique environment,” said Karl Ravech, who will oversee the game for ESPN along with analysts David Cone and Eduardo Perez. “As a broadcaster, you sit among the people who are there and it’s a small crowd [capacity is approximately 2,300] consists primarily of children participating in the Little League World Series and their families. So that makes it different. The baseball field is different. The whole thing feels different.
“This is about the Little Leaguers, but to me it’s also the Major Leaguers, all of whom played baseball at ages 10, 11 and 12 and ended up fulfilling their dreams of becoming a major league. It’s amazing that they do what they do and it all started then. This is a reminder of that time. It’s the connection between the past and their current status as major league players. I think it will mean a lot to them to play there.”
The MLB Little League Classic is a relatively new event, debuting in 2017 to attract younger fans and increase engagement with the grassroots sport. Like Fox’s Field of Dreams game, it’s a satisfying television product that highlights the most attractive aspects of the sport.
Before the game begins, players will be seated in the stands for the 11 a.m. Little League World Series game, which will also be broadcast by Ravech, Cone and Perez. At the opening game five years ago, Cardinals outfielder Tommy Pham – now with the Red Sox – and teammate Carlos Martinez bought more than 200 snow cones for Little Leaguers in the stands.
“Major league players relate better to children than most adults do,” Ravech said. “You just do it. They love speaking baseball language with the kids and doing nice things for them. Nobody asks her about anything. It’s pure. I think someone once asked Chris Archer while he was here, ‘Are you the same Chris Archer that keeps giving up home runs?’ Not the way we would put it, but that’s how a kid would put it to him. That’s the great thing about it.”
The Red Sox-Orioles matchup was scheduled for 2020 but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cleveland and the Los Angeles Angels met last year at Historic Bowman Field, which opened in 1926 but was renovated before the first Classic 17 to meet MLB standards. The dimensions of the field are 323 feet to left field, 411 to center, and 331 to right field.
“This ballpark is one of those places where if you name the city, everyone knows what it is and what it’s connected to,” Ravech said. “They say Williamsport, people say Little League World Series. They say Omaha, they said College World Series. Do you say Augusta? They say the masters.
“Those of us who belong to a certain generation all grew up with Wide World of Sports. Baseball was the greatest sport. The Little League World Series was named by Jim McKay and Brent Musberger, legends among legends. Jackie Robinson was here. Jim Palmer was here. People who made this event, myself included, know the meaning.
“I can’t tell you how many people talk to me about the Little League World Series versus college or the Major League Baseball World Series. It’s a hundred times more. So it makes perfect sense for Major League Baseball to capitalize on that nostalgia. It’s a great time and you’re getting a real, meaningful Major League game. That’s hard to top.”