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The Dog Days of summer in the Northern Hemisphere don’t officially begin until the rising of Sirius, the “dog star.” This is usually mid-to-late July, and we can thank the Greeks for the canid construction. “On summer nights, star of stars, Orion’s Dog they call it,” Homer recited in the Iliad, “brightest of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat and fevers to suffering humanity.” The Dog Days of the baseball season—those weeks of malaise and joylessness and what feels like the 12th Tigers-Royals series of the year—traditionally kick off after the all-star break, when teams and fans start to really feel the weight of 162 games. The Dog Days for the New York Yankees come a little earlier. June, usually. You can tell because that’s when they let Sonny Gray flirt with a no-hitter.
Gray threw seven-and-a-third hitless on Sunday night, though Aroldis Chapman would blow the save, forcing the Red Sox to score three in the 10th for the walk-off.