A tense and unusual quiet fell over Yankee Stadium at a time that, under normal circumstances, would have produced thunderous noise. The game was tied in the ninth inning as the Yankees faced the Boston Red Sox, their most fierce rival, and the slugger everyone had come to see was stepping into the batter’s box.
With the batter, Aaron Judge, needing only one more home run to tie Roger Maris’s American League record of 61 in a single season, a crowd of more than 43,000 seemed to be holding its breath.
As Judge peered out toward Matt Barnes, a Red Sox reliever, the fans stood and leaned forward, too, concentrating so hard in the moment it was as if they forgot to cheer.
“I noticed it,” Alex Cora, the manager of the Red Sox said of the lack of noise. “I mean, everybody noticed it. It got very quiet on every pitch.”
Many of the fans were holding their camera phones up to record what they hoped would turn into a historic moment, perhaps lending to the eerie lack of applause, especially in the area behind home plate. But then Judge uncoiled his mighty swing on a high, 96-mile-per-hour fastball, sending the ball soaring up into the air and deep toward center field.
The silence briefly shifted into a roar before falling quiet once again when Kiké Hernández, the Boston center fielder, settled under the ball. He caught it on the warning track mere feet from Monument Park, where a plaque honors Maris along with all the other Yankees greats.
“I thought it would have been pretty showy to drop it off at Monument Park out there,” Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said of the long drive.
Come Friday night, no matter where Aaron Judge stands in his chase for 61 home runs — or more — one thing appears certain: Yankees fans won’t be able to watch the game the way they normally do.
Instead of being broadcast on the YES Network, Fox or ESPN, Friday night’s game between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox will be on Apple TV+. It is part of an agreement Major League Baseball made before the season which gave the subscription streaming service exclusive rights to some Friday night games.
The agreement is part of a broad effort by M.L.B. to build its audience, and includes streaming deals with Amazon Prime and Peacock, a service owned by NBC.
Watching Friday night games on Apple TV+ is free — for a limited time, per Apple’s website — but it is harder to gain access to the platform for some older fans and for sports bars that do not have smart TVs.
Many baseball fans have taken to social media this week to share their thoughts about the game’s being broadcast on Apple TV+ and how it may limit the viewership for a potentially huge milestone event. The comedian Jon Stewart posted a video on Twitter on Thursday that appeared to echo some of that sentiment.
“I’m a fan of the New York Metropolitans, but I’m also a fan of excellence — excellence in general,” Stewart said. “This Aaron Judge thing is getting me so excited. This is going to be the steroid-free home run record, breaking Roger Maris’s 61, if he does it. And Friday night may be the night he ties the record or breaks the record, and then I found out the game against the Red Sox — it’s on Apple TV+.”
Stewart, who hosts the show “The Problem With Jon Stewart” on Apple TV+, then shifts gears, making a pitch for his network and pointing out that the service is free for baseball games.
The Yankees did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday about whether the team had asked M.L.B. to move the game to YES.
The issue does not just apply to Friday night’s Yankees game. Fans who want to see Albert Pujols in his pursuit of 700 home runs will also need Apple TV+ to watch the St. Louis Cardinals play the Los Angeles Dodgers.
While no subscription is required to watch the games on Friday nights, anyone hoping to tune in will need an Apple ID account, which is a free service.
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