I am not a baseball fan, but I am a Bostonian. With a mind thus unclouded by fandom, I bring to your attention a grim fact: last night, a venerable Boston institution, the Red Sox, effectively ceased to exist.

The Red Sox were not simply a baseball team. They were an allegory for our city. They were a symbol of underdogs everywhere. For many people, they were a minor pagan religion. The Red Sox did not have their following because of their record of success, but because of their character and history.

Even at the seventh-inning stretch last night, with the Red Sox up 3-0, every true Red Sox fan believed that it was still possible for the team to lose the Series. That’s a beautiful thing. If the same happens next year, will anyone harbor the same doubt?

A legendary institution that was a linchpin of a proud and venerable local tradition was destroyed last night; in its place is a mere baseball team. The only thing left is to raze Fenway Park and build a faceless stadium named after a bank in some sterile gentrified neighborhood on the outskirts of town.

But go Sox!