The opening game in Fenway Park pitted Bruce Hurst against Oakland's newfound ace, Dave Stewart.

The game was scoreless until the fourth when Canseco, coming off the first 40–40 season in major league history, drilled a homer to give the A's a 1-0 lead.

A single by Rich Gedman loaded the bases with one out and Stewart gave way to reliever Rick Honeycutt.

Honeycutt induced a line out to left field by Wade Boggs that plated Romine and tied the game at one.

A Carney Lansford double and a Dave Henderson single gave the A's a 2–1 lead, and Dennis Eckersley held on for the save as the A's prevailed, 2–1.

Thursday, October 6, 1988, at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts Game 2 saw Storm Davis take the mound against Roger Clemens.

Davis then threw a wild pitch that moved Burks to second but retired the side on a strikeout of Todd Benzinger.

Boston tied the game in the bottom of the seventh when Rich Gedman hit a home run off Oakland reliever Greg Cadaret.

Eckersley retired the side again in the ninth for his second save and Oakland carried a two games to none lead with them back to California.

After a ground out by Jim Rice, Welch promptly loaded the bases with walks to Evans and Gedman.

In the bottom of the eighth, a Lansford single and a Dave Henderson home run closed out the scoring as the A's prevailed, 10–6, to take a three games to none lead in the best-of-seven series.

In the top of the sixth, the Red Sox cut the lead in half when Marty Barrett walked, went to second on a single, and scored on consecutive fielder's choice ground outs.

Needing two runs to win, the Red Sox took the field with one series of at-bats left in the bottom of the eighth.

Stan Javier bunted to move McGwire to second and wound up on first due to poor execution by the Red Sox.

Eckersley finished the ninth to get his fourth save in only four games, an all-time record (since matched by John Wetteland in the 1996 World Series and Greg Holland in the 2014 ALCS).