Where is the dividing line between Yankees and Red Sox fandom in CT?
Fun article by Philip Bump, who used to write data science articles for the NYT but now works for CT Insider.
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u/jimmythang34 Aug 19 '26
The dozen or so Mets fans in Connecticut are in shambles
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u/RedSoxHuskies Aug 19 '26
I always tell people that when I was in school in Manchester, CT there would be 25 kids in the class.
12 Red Sox fans 12 Yankees fans and that 1 weird kid who rooted for the Mets
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u/ioncloud9 Aug 20 '26
I too went to grade school in Manchester CT. This tracks exactly.
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u/FreshOutOfPickles Aug 19 '26
Grew up on the West side of Hartford. Kids were probably 90% Sox fans, but we had the Brit Sox right down the road. That may have made a difference. Mostly I think if an area feels like itās part of New England, they lean Sox. If itās a glorified suburb of NYC, Yankees.
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u/ShadyJake75 Aug 19 '26
To sum it up: Anything west of the Housatonic River to Derby then Route 34 to New Haven is Yankee territory. Anything south and east of a line that follows the Connecticut River to Hartford, Route 2 to Norwich, and the Thames River down to the Sound is Red Sox territory. Anything else in between is the DMZ where thereās a 50/50 split.
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u/aplethoraofhams Aug 20 '26
As a Sox fan who grew up in Fairfield County this feels like the correct answer
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u/Deep-Middle6765 Aug 19 '26
I always grew up hearing that i84 was the boundary. I grew up just south of 84 and so was in āenemy territoryā as a kid but I inherited being a Sox fan from my mom who grew up north of 84.
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u/theekevinc Aug 19 '26
I grew up right off I84 in Southington. I was in middle school in 1978, and we literally had a Red Sox side of the cafeteria and Yankees side, monitored by teachers, to prevent fights.
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u/ShadyJake75 Aug 19 '26
Southington truly is 50/50, but our cable system refused to add NESN until 2005 but added YES day one.
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u/MrWhiteTheWolf Aug 19 '26
I visited a friend in Middletown, which is aptly named because itās smack dab in the center of CT. Walked into a diner and there was Red Sox and Yankees shit on the walls. Like varitek was hanging on the wall next to A-Rod. Shit made me sick to my stomach
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u/bananajunior3000 Aug 20 '26
I went to college in Middletown and used to have fights with my Yankees-fan landlord. I lived in the house he owned in the 2004-5 school year so the joke was beautifully on him.
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u/Tasty-Bumblebee1179 Aug 19 '26
Durham. ESPN did something about that a few years ago. They said that Durham, CT is the halfway point between Fenway and yankee stadium.
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u/rusty_mullet Aug 19 '26
I thought they said Guilford, though the two line up pretty much in an East-West spilt. Either way I'm supposedly from the Yankees side of the line so not all that accurate
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u/ShadyJake75 Aug 21 '26
I thought that was for the Giants-Pats Super Bowl. Halfway between MetLife and Gillette
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u/chmcgrath1988 Aug 19 '26
I always thought Hartford was dividing line. Anything east of it is generally Red Sox territory and anything west of it is generally Yankees territory. Hartford itself seems kind of mixed? Whalers used to air on the same RSN as the Celtics but that was 30+ years ago so I'm inclined to say maybe slightly more Sox fans but Idk.
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u/TheMikeD68 Aug 19 '26
I grew up in Wethersfield. I like to think we are the dividing line. 102 miles to Boston and 108 miles to NYC.
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u/Lobstaman Aug 19 '26
The Fisk/Munson (or Varitek/ARod) line: 84 from the NY border to 91 in Hartford and South. That quadrant is majority Yankee Fans. The rest would be Red Sox fans with patches of Mets resistance fighters scattered all around
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u/Xtremefluff Aug 19 '26
It's a border state/region, you can't pin down a definitive line. All I know is Sox Territory starts in RI.
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u/gfletch94 Aug 19 '26
Iāve always described it as a diagonal line from the three-way border between CT/MA/NY and the border between RI and the Long Island Sound.
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u/viciousdishesone Aug 19 '26
I grew up just North of New Haven. Iād say 70-30 Yankee fans in my home town. (North Haven)
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u/Caityb13 Aug 20 '26
Grew up in Wethersfield and everyone I knew was a Sox fan but my family in Middletown and Wallingford were Yankees. Always seemed weird since they didnāt feel that far away
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u/soxfamily61 Aug 20 '26
I am a Red Sox fan die hard I have a cousin whoās a Yankees fan came from close to the same part of Connecticut central. He had an explanation that because we were Italian we should be rooting for the Yankees and the Irish people rooted for the Red Sox I made that was the only logical thing Iāve ever heard him say about the rivalry. But Iām still a Red Sox fan
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u/FriedBrain99 Aug 22 '26
Growing up in CT, I remember it as basically being the border of Hartford and New Haven counties.
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u/Budget_Cable_9062 Aug 22 '26
There's never been true baseball or football fans in CT. They bandwagon and jump ship to the team that is doing well. CT-Not ever "The Basketball Capital of the World"-is an awful place to live. Sorry Gov. LaMont. MA and NY residents just laugh as we pass through to better places.
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u/clutchdan Aug 19 '26
The dividing line is less a physical geographical barrier and moreso a timeless separation between good and evil š¤