After besting the Yankees last week to win the American League East for the first time in more than a decade, the Red Sox play their first playoff game at 6:30 tonight at Fenway Park - and local pub owners say they're preparing to host a bumper crop of baseball fans.

"We're expecting a big night," said Tom Gianfrancesco, who owns Tom's Tavern in Wrentham. "We've got 29 TVs, and it's going to be on every one of them."

He added that patrons appreciate the pub's "thunderous" surround sound system: "You can feel the excitement with what we offer."

"We expect to do very well," echoed the owner of Fitzy's Pub in Plainville, Bill Fitzpatrick.

Fitzy's is giving its customers free wings during the game. "It's just something special for the playoffs," he said. "We did it (Monday) night for the Pats, and it was very successful."

Fitzpatrick has put on extra staff, and he said the dinnertime first pitch will likely lead people to come straight from work to watch the game and have dinner.

Chuck Horne, the owner of Norfolk's Eagle Brook Saloon, said that as a sports bar, his establishment is a prime destination for fans who want a sense of camaraderie during big games.

"It's just a really festive time, between the Red Sox playoffs in October and the Pats" he said. "It's a lot of fun. Our staff is really into it," and they wear Sox gear on playoff nights.

Horne said he can see fans' excitement build throughout the season.

"You can definitely tell the difference," he said. "Right now, people know they're in the playoffs, but as it gets to the ALCS (the playoffs' second round), and then the World Series, it's phenomenal."

The pub owners say it helps that their employees are fans, too.

"We're all fans - if they're winning," Gianfrancesco said. "We're New England fans, too, you know. We're kind of cranky. If they win, they're heroes; if they lose, they're bums."

So, how will they watch the game if they have to serve customers?

"You've got to do both," he said. "It's called multi-tasking." And, Horne pointed out, "As soon as something happens, everybody screams, so everybody in the place knows what's going on."

But one mistake Horne won't make again is celebrating a Sox victory before the final out.

As every Red Sox fan knows, in the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, between the Sox and the New York Mets, Boston was within three outs of the team's first world championship since 1918.

Horne, thinking they were a lock, passed out champagne to his customers - but warned them not to pop the cork until the final out was called.

Then the Mets' Mookie Wislon hit a slow ground ball and it rolled right through the legs of Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner.

The Mets won, making it to Game 7 and winning the Series. Horne took his champagne back, unopened.

"People make it my responsibility" that they lost, Horne laughed. "I like Billy Buck, but it was kind of unfortunate."