It's taken a lot of scheduling gymnastics for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs to get to the end of the regular season. That's what a vicious nor'easter will do to you. With Fenway Park ravaged by rain and wind, MLB set up a doubleheader on Friday to avoid the weekend tempest. Now, both clubs are headed to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg to play game No. 162 on Sunday.
Neither the Red Sox nor the Cubs are thrilled about this travel schedule ahead of next week's Wild Card games. Boston is already locked into an epic series with the New York Yankees that will commence on Tuesday night in the Bronx. With all the moving around and rescheduling games, fans are validly worried that the Red Sox might enter the series less-than-rested.
Cubs fans likely have similar concerns, and this all could have been avoided ... well, sort of. According to intel from 104.3 The Score’s Matt Spiegel, the Red Sox floated the idea of playing this final regular-season series at Wrigley Field to avoid the entire scheduling mess. The Cubs were in agreement, but the idea didn't go anywhere.
The Red Sox were down to play the Cubs series at Wrigley Field, but the Padres and Phillies said no, no, no!
The Red Sox "green-lit" the idea of playing their series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field this weekend, @MattSpiegs reports. The Cubs would've reimbursed the Red Sox money.
— 104.3 The Score (@thescorechicago) September 24, 2026
The Padres and the Phillies "did not like that idea," Spiegel adds. So it didn't happen. pic.twitter.com/MFJVNaBpYu
Per Spiegel, the move to Wrigley plan received strong pushback from Chicago's competitors in the NL Wild Card situation — the San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies. Understandably, both San Diego and Philly felt that playing the series at Wrigley would give the Cubs an unfair advantage in their final games of the season, not to mention leave Chicago better rested heading into the postseason.
The Wrigley Field idea was an interesting plan in theory, and certainly one that would've helped the Red Sox. Spiegel also reported that the Cubs were committed to reimbursing Boston for revenue lost from the move. Both teams would have avoided extra flights. Both teams would have entered their Wild Card Series fresher.
It's no surprise that the Padres and Phillies didn't like any of this. Both clubs were still jockeying with Chicago for wild-card seeding entering this final series of the season.
With the Cubs dropping both games of the doubleheader on Friday, Sunday's game is important for them. They're only a half-game up on the Phillies for the second Wild Card spot at the moment. They'll want to secure a win at Tropicana. What a weird way to end the regular season.
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