BOSTON — This is the best part of the postseason, really, when you wander the streets of a city not your own, overhear the conversations of strangers, all of them talking about the same thing: an important baseball game that went down to the final out, witnessed and fretted over by fans whose cuticles are now down to the quick.
This was Newbury Street, downtown Boston, late on a Saturday morning. Outside the Saltie Girl wine bar a crowd of friends had gathered, waiting for the doors to open. They were planning on a full day of college football at another place downtown, followed by Sox-Yankees Game 2, but they waited here for their wives and their girlfriends who were exploring the other businesses on Newbury.