Chris Chao, a Red Sox fan living in New York City since March 2021, said he’s been to more than 200 baseball games since moving there. Simply an avid fan of the sport, he scours for chances to score last-minute tickets and see as many games as possible.
But no day added to his resume quite like this past Saturday.
Chao completed the fabled “tripleheader” in NYC, with the Yankees hosting a day-night doubleheader against his beloved Red Sox, while the Mets hosted the Astros smack dab in the middle of the twin bill. He started to consider this as a possibility as soon as he saw the first game of the doubleheader -- a makeup of a June 6 rainout -- was rescheduled for Saturday.
“I was thinking, if the first game got out early enough -- because I know it takes about an hour [by] subway to get down there -- that I could at least catch a couple innings of the Mets-Astros game,” Chao said
With a pancake breakfast fueling him for the day ahead, Chao got off to a good start with the Red Sox taking Game 1, 6-0.
“That was a nice way to start the day for the tripleheader,” he said. “Get my spirits up a little bit because it can be kind of deflating if you lose the first game, then you're going to see a second game, with teams you don't really like or care for. And then to get back up for the third game, you can really be kind of out of it."
Chao stayed for all of the first game and then made it to Citi Field around the top of the third inning. As with all non-Red Sox games he attends, he was particularly interested in seeing a marquee pitcher like the Mets’ Nolan McLean (seven innings and one unearned run in Saturday’s 6-2 win over the Astros) or former Red Sox like Houston catcher Christian Vázquez (0-for-2 on the day).
Chao -- who in true diehard Red Sox fashion said he refuses to buy concessions from Yankee Stadium -- ate two Italian sausages at Citi Field, one when he arrived and one when he was on his way out. His other nourishment for the day came in the form of one Gatorade bottle at each game, consumed and refilled with water, and one eight-ounce Red Bull before all three games.
Chao left Queens around the seventh inning, knowing he needed that time on the subway to make it back to the Bronx. He walked back into Yankee Stadium just in time for first pitch.
Despite the Red Sox faltering late, Game 3 of the tripleheader was close most of the way, and Nick Sogard’s third-inning homer off of Max Fried was a highlight for Chao.
In total, Chao left the house around 10 a.m. and returned home at roughly 11:15 p.m. He then indulged in some well-earned dessert and crashed until about 10 a.m. the next day.
“I had a big, sad bowl of ice cream. Chocolate chip and cookie dough,” Chao joked. “Housed that thing, then fell asleep.”
Chao said he’d never done anything quite like it, the closest instance being a day when he traveled from NYC to Philadelphia for both a Phillies and Flyers game on the same day.
“It was a great time,” he said. “I don’t know if I would do it again. I’d probably just go to the Red Sox games. But definitely a cool experience.”
And just for good measure, Chao headed back to Yankee Stadium on Sunday with his wife for the final game of The Rivalry. He said it was his 35th game of the season.
“I just love baseball games.”