A Democrat Took on Red Sox Ownership in an Ad. A Network Pulled it.

One of the country’s highest-stakes Senate races has suddenly collided with one of the most animating topics in New England: the Boston Red Sox. In a move that appeared to be part stunt, part troll and part tugging on the heartstrings of the region’s die-hard sports fans, Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, aired a commercial during a Red Sox game blaming the team’s ownership for its woes. The network that carried the game — and is owned by the team — stopped showing the ad again partway through the broadcast, according to the Platner campaign. And Mr. Platner was only too eager to promote their decision. “Yesterday we started running this ad during the Red Sox game,” Mr. Platner wrote Saturday on social media, reposting video of the commercial, in which he is critical of private equity and claims it “destroyed our favorite baseball team.” He added: “Midway through the game the ad was taken down by the station.” New England Sports Network, which is owned by the Red Sox and the Boston Bruins professional hockey team, confirmed the removal of the commercial.