A potential weekend nor’easter could create a scheduling disaster for Red Sox

Beyond the expected return of Alex Bregman to Fenway Park, the Red Sox don’t exactly have a whole lot of noteworthy storylines in place for their final regular season series from Friday to Sunday against the Cubs.

After all, Boston has already clinched a playoff spot — and could be locked into a best-of-three Wild Card Series with the Yankees in the coming days. As such, the Red Sox will likely rest several lineup regulars and keep their most valuable arms encased in bubble wrap over the weekend as they await a postseason rematch with New York.

The same can’t be said for the Cubs, who are fighting tooth and nail for seeding in the National League wild card standings against the Padres and Phillies. As such, Chicago’s final three games of the season hold significant weight for their playoff path.

That need for Chicago to play out the stretch is bad news for all involved, as a potential nor’easter set to hit Boston and the greater region this weekend will cause significant headaches.

“What I’m hearing is the weather doesn’t look good. As far as what’s going to happen, I don’t know. I know there are conversations already going on between front offices and MLB, so everyone is well aware that the weather could get bad, it could also miss and not be bad,” Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said Tuesday ahead of Boston’s game against Cleveland, as noted by Mac Cerullo of The Boston Herald. “I don’t know what the ultimate decision there will be, I just know it’s very much on everybody’s radar.”

Even though the Red Sox would seemingly welcome a few rain-outs and outright cancellations if the weather is as bad as some fear, the Cubs won’t have that same appetite.

But with lengthy delays and postponements seemingly all but assured on Saturday and Sunday, could MLB take drastic measures?

The worst-case scenario for the Red Sox would be a potential doubleheader on Monday during their scheduled day off — given that Boston would preferably use that day to both rest up and/or travel to New York ahead of a potential Game 1 showdown against Cam Schlittler and the Yankees on Tuesday night.

As such, a potential double-header on Friday — when the weather seems to be the most favorable out of that three-game slate — could be on the table to get those games in and avoid pushing Boston and Chicago’s regular season slate into Monday.

One thing that MLB is seemingly not discussing is moving this three-game series to a neutral site with a better forecast — with Tim Healey of The Boston Globe reporting Tuesday that MLB has “no plans” to move these games elsewhere.

MLB has used this contingency plan in extreme circumstances before — with a September series between the Yankees and Rays in 2017 moved from Tropicana Field to the Mets’ Citi Field ahead of Hurricane Irma.

As the Red Sox, Cubs, and MLB continue to monitor the forecasts, Friday might stand as the best way for both clubs to try to squeeze in a pair of games — especially if Saturday looks like a complete washout.

“We’ve been in touch with the Red Sox and MLB,” Cubs team president Jed Hoyer told Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. “Nothing’s decided yet, but certainly we’re aware that it’s a really bad forecast. Those things change a lot, so we’ll monitor the weather, but certainly it’s something that is on everyone’s radar.”

“I think playing Monday is obviously not a positive for anyone,” Hoyer added. “But we’ll try to work through the different scenarios.”

Any make-up games on Monday would stand as a brutal break for a Red Sox team that already has little left to play for over its final five regular season games — and could use that time off to brace itself for another anticipated postseason bout with its longstanding rival in the Bronx.

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.