What to know about the Red Sox Home Opener at Fenway Park

CBS News

04-04-2025

The Boston Red Sox opened the 2025 season with seven games on the road, but will finally take the field at Fenway Park on Friday when they open a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Friday will be the 114th Red Sox home opener at Fenway Park, and it looks like fans will be
treated to a gorgeous day
at the beloved ballpark. Gates will open at 12:10 p.m., and fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 1:30 p.m. to enjoy the pregame festivities the organization has planned.
Things are looking up as the Red Sox come home after a 3-4 start to the season. Boston dropped three of four in its opening series against the Texas Rangers, but then took two of three against the Orioles in Baltimore.
Alex Cora is hoping his team will fare much better at home in 2025 than they did last season. Boston was just 38-43 at Fenway Park in 2024, one of just 10 MLB teams to finish below .500 on their home field.
The Red Sox open the home portion of their season Friday, April 4 against the St. Louis Cardinals. First pitch is set for 2:10 p.m., with a lot of pregame entertainment planned for the big day in Boston.
When the Red Sox and Cardinals are introduced along the baselines, the colors will be presented by the 1st Battalion and 181st Infantry Regiment of the Massachusetts National Guard, the 66th Air Base Group out of Hanscom Air Force Base, and members of the 1st Coast Guard District.
The National Anthem will be performed by the "Treble Allstars" of the Boston Arts Academy, and will be punctuated by a fly-over by two F-35's flown by the 134th Fighter Squadron, Green Mountain Boys of the Vermont Air National Guard, and one KC-46 from the New Hampshire Air National Guard's 157th Air Refueling Wing.
The Red Sox will hold a pregame ceremony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1975 team, which won the American League pennant before losing the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds -- the Big Red Machine -- in a hard-fought seven-game series.
Fred Lynn (who won Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in 1975), Carlton Fisk (
whose big swing at Fenway Park
forced a deciding Game 7 against Cincinnati), and Jim Rice will likely be in attendance, and we'll see if Carl Yastrzemski is well enough to be at the ballpark.
The team will also remember Red Sox Hall of Famer Luis Tiant, who passed away last October at the age of 83. "El Tiante" and his unique windup spent eight of his 19 MLB seasons in Boston and won 122 games with the Red Sox.
Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 1:30 p.m. to enjoy the ceremony. There's no word on who will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch, but it will likely involve the 1975 team or Tiant's family.
Right-hander Walker Buehler will be on the hill for the Red Sox for the home opener, which will be his second start for the team. Buehler was tagged with a loss in his first career start for Boston last week, after he surrendered four earned runs off seven hits (including a homer) in a 4-3 Red Sox defeat at the hands of the Texas Rangers. Friday will be his first-ever start at Fenway Park.
Buehler will be opposed by St. Louis righty Erick Fedde, who is 1-0 on the year after tossing innings of one-run ball in his first start against the Minnesota Twins.
The better question is which concessions
aren't
available at Fenway Park? Red Sox fans can pick from a diverse array of food when checking out a ballgame, from your typical baseball foods such as hot dogs and popcorn to some more much extravagant options like clam chowder, a lobster roll, and burrito bowls.
There's a big buffet of
new options to munch on at Fenway Park
this year, including the PIG MAC sandwich(mac and cheese, pulled pork, and bacon strips on sourdough), Pineapple Bacon Sausage, and ICEE frozen beverages.
Click here
to see where you can get all the different concessions at Fenway Park.