The 2021 Boston Red Sox season was the 121st season in the team's history, and their 110th season at Fenway Park. The team entered the offseason conducting a managerial search, after declining to bring back Ron Roenicke from the shortened 2020 season. On November 6, 2020, the team re-hired Alex Cora as manager; Cora had skippered the Red Sox in 2018 and 2019, then sat out 2020 serving a one-year suspension for his role in the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal in 2017. This was the Red Sox' first season since 2019 with fans at Fenway Park, with a limited capacity of approximately 4,500 to start the season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The capacity was increased to approximately 9,400 for games after May 10. Fenway returned to full capacity starting May 29, with an announced attendance of 25,089 at that day's game. The first home sellout of the season was the June 25 game against the New York Yankees, with an announced attendance of 36,869. On June 4–6, the Red Sox swept a three-game series against the rival Yankees at Yankee Stadium for the first time since June 2011. On June 13, the Toronto Blue Jays set a single-game record for home runs by a visiting team at Fenway Park, with eight. In early July, the Red Sox led MLB with to the All-Star Game. Beginning in late August, the team had a spate of positive COVID-19 testing, resulting in more than 10 players being placed on the COVID-related injured list. The Red Sox finished the regular season with a 92–70 record and qualified for the postseason as the fourth seed in the American League (AL), defeating the fifth-seed Yankees in the AL Wild Card Game at Fenway Park on October 5. They then defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Division Series, 3–1 games. The Red Sox lost to the Houston Astros in the best-of-seven AL Championship Series in six games. (en)