From BOS to CLE, fun follows Napoli

CLEVELAND — Perhaps he’s bound for another bar crawl, another brilliantly bearded, shirt-deprived lark with the locals in the aftermath of a World Series clinch.

That’s how they remember Mike Napoli in Boston, his legacy forever secure among the beer-swillers on Boylston Street because of a post-parade party that got a lot of love in the social-media stratosphere. And that’s how they hope to remember him here in Northeast Ohio, a region still reveling in its first professional sports parade of any sort in more than 50 years and one very much in love with Napoli’s power production.

Game Date Time Matchup TV Gm 1 Oct. 6 8 p.m. BOS @ CLE TBS Gm 2 Oct. 7 4:30 p.m. BOS @ CLE TBS Gm 3 Oct. 9 4 p.m. CLE @ BOS TBS *Gm 4 Oct. 10 TBD CLE @ BOS TBS *Gm 5 Oct. 12 TBD BOS @ CLE TBS *- If necessary | All times listed ETShop for postseason gear: Red Sox | Indians • Complete Postseason coverage

So there’s a certain fluidity to the fact that if Napoli is going to slug the Indians to the Promised Land, he’s going to have to do so at the expense of the Sox. And for that matter, there’s a not-small chance he’d have to get through his old team in Texas in the American League Championship Series round, too.

But first things first: Napoli vs. Boston is one of many satisfying subplots to the Division Series that begins here Thursday (8 p.m. ET, TBS).

“I had a great three years there,” Napoli said of the Back Bay. “I still own a place in Boston. It was something special to be able to win a World Series in that town. They’re fanatics. It was fun playing in front of them for three years.”

Fun, though, has a way of following Napoli around.

Earlier this year, a Tribe season-ticket holder named Nate Crowe unwittingly created a theme/meme/whatever when he held aloft a sign bearing the phrase “Party at Napoli’s.” It took off. T-shirts were produced by a company called 108 Stitches, and they’ve been sold with a portion of the proceeds going to Cleveland Clinic Children’s. You’ll see plenty of them in the stands these next two nights.

Of course, a T-shirt alone is not enough to make a man a fan favorite. Napoli’s career-high 34 homers helped, …

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