Red Sox President & CEO Larry Lucchino said the team’s 794-game regular-season sellout streak at Fenway Park, which officially ended with last night’s game against the Orioles, was a “remarkable ride.” Appearing on NESN’s Red Sox pregame show last night, Lucchino reflected on the mark, which expands to 820 when including postseason games, and called it a “remarkable achievement for the Red Sox and for our fans to have filled this ballpark.” The streak ended with the team’s second home game this season, and Lucchino noted some fans likely were “taking a wait-and-see attitude to get a sense of what the personality of this team would be, what its chance for success might be,” before buying tickets. He said during the Red Sox’ 93-loss season last year and the “collapse of 2011, even though fans may look out and see empty seats, that's not an indication that these tickets weren't sold.” Lucchino: “They were indeed sold but for … whatever reasons, people decided not to come. But it's been a real achievement." NESN's Tim Wakefield, who played 17 years with the Red Sox, said a “big round of applause goes out to all the fans that showed up here for 10 straight years.” WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford said it "would have been nice” to end the streak last year because there are "so many good feelings about this team right now." But he added, "This is a little blip on the radar” (“Red Sox Gameday Live,” NESN, 4/10). MLB Network's Tom Verducci said of the streak, "It’s pretty impressive, you got to admit. Yes, the 93 losses took a lot of the steam and momentum out of what they had going there, but great fans there in Boston. I know it’s a smaller park but it’s going to be a long time, obviously, before we see anybody even approach that kind of a streak” ("MLB Tonight," MLBN, 4/10). The game drew 30,862 fans at the 37,499-seat ballpark (THE DAILY).
