The .500 Red Sox are shooting for a fresh start

Boston Red Sox' Xander Bogaerts bats during a game against the Baltimore Orioles, Monday, May 6, 2019.COMMENTARY

The idea that “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” isn’t new by any means … I’m fairly certain it sold a bunch of dandruff shampoo, for one thing. It also doesn’t account for the sheer length of a baseball season, which has never been more superfluous.

For one thing, per-game and total MLB attendance peaked 12 years ago and has essentially been flat or down six seasons running. Plus, cutting the field from 30 teams to 10 hardly justifies six months of games.

You have to go back to 1999 — more than a decade before the second wild card made making October even…