The Cubs and Red Sox have some control over where they finish in their respective Wild Card races, but there are still some unpredictable elements at play as the regular season approaches its end point.
The Cubs finish the season this weekend in Boston, where the weather forecast currently projects potentially problematic rainfall, especially on Saturday and Sunday. With the Cubs, Padres and Phillies heading into Tuesday separated by just one game in the NL Wild Card standings, inclement weather would throw a possible wrench into the seeding situation. On the AL side, while it’s likely the Red Sox will end up as the No. 5 seed, that is still not locked in.
“It sounds like lovely weather is ahead,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer quipped. “We’ve been in touch with the Red Sox and MLB. 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. Certainly, it’s something that is on everyone’s radar.”
When similar situations have happened in the past, Major League Baseball has worked with the clubs and MLB Players’ Association to proactively reschedule when feasible. In 2017, for example, a September series between the Rays and Yankees that was supposed to be played at Tropicana Field was preemptively moved to Citi Field as a precaution ahead of Hurricane Irma.
While the projected weather this weekend won’t be that severe, it could still prevent games from being played as scheduled. One possible alternative could be to have the Cubs and Red Sox play a doubleheader on Friday, which has a better weather outlook. MLB would always prefer to complete the full 162 games on the schedule, especially with potential playoff seeding at stake.
“I know there's conversations already going on between front offices and MLB. So everybody is well aware that the weather could get bad and [also another forecast] that it could miss and not be bad. The first [game of the] series looks good," said Red Sox manager Chad Tracy. "And then you get to the Saturday and Sunday part and it looks like it could be not great.
"So, I don't know what the ultimate decision there will be. I just know it's very much on everybody's radar through each organization plus Major League Baseball on continuing to watch that over the next few days and plan what they would want to do.”
If the series were not able to be played in full, the Red Sox and Cubs would make up any missed games on Monday (the day before the start of the Wild Card Series) if the outcome of those games mattered for postseason seeding. This happened two years ago when the Mets and Braves played a doubleheader the day after the scheduled end to the regular season after Hurricane Helene had washed out two games earlier in the week. The teams split the doubleheader, allowing both clubs to advance to the postseason while eliminating the D-backs, who watched from home.
If the Cubs and Red Sox were to play on Monday, that would cost them their only off-day ahead of the start of their respective Wild Card Series.
“I think playing Monday is obviously not a positive for anyone,” Hoyer said. “But again, we’ll try to work through the different scenarios.”
The Red Sox entered Tuesday in the American League's second Wild Card spot, trailing the Yankees by 5 1/2 games, but holding a four-game lead over the third spot (currently, the White Sox).
The Cubs have a three-game home series against the Marlins prior to heading to Boston for the final road series. The Padres (second in the NL Wild Card race, entering Tuesday) are in Los Angeles for a set against the Dodgers before ending the season at home against the D-backs. The Phillies (third in the Wild Card picture) host the Brewers and Rays over the final six games of their season.
The Cubs went 6-1 against the Phillies – with all seven games in April – to claim the tiebreaker over Philadelphia. The North Siders won five of their six matchups against San Diego to pick up the tiebreaker over the Padres as well. Because of this, the Cubs own not only both head-to-head tiebreakers, but also a three-way tiebreaker. The Phillies own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Padres.
A year ago, Chicago hosted the Padres in the NL Wild Card round at Wrigley Field, won in three games and advanced to the NL Division Series.
“Obviously, there’s going to be a weather consideration this weekend, it sounds like,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “As we get closer, we’ll be able to make better decisions regarding that. I’m sure things will happen, but right now the focus is just putting ourselves in a position to be as good as we can for the next six games.”