The Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox are bracing for inclement weather to affect a weekend series with playoff implications. As first reported Thursday by the Boston Globe's Tim Healey, the Cubs and Red Sox plan to play a doubleheader Friday at Fenway Park. They would then move Saturday's game, currently scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
ET, up to the afternoon with heavy rain in the forecast this weekend. According to WSCR-AM's Bruce Levine, the teams have also discussed a possible venue change with MLB. They're expected to reach an official decision by Thursday afternoon.
Both teams are poised to make the playoffs, which begins on Tuesday, so there's a heavy impetus to play all three games. Playing a make-up game on Monday would place both teams at a disadvantage ahead of a best-of-three Wild Card Round series. "What I’m hearing is the weather doesn’t look good," Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said on Tuesday, per the Boston Herald's Mac Cerullo.
"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. I don’t know what the ultimate decision there will be.
I just know it’s very much on everybody’s radar.” The Red Sox enter Wednesday three games ahead of the Chicago White Sox for the American League's second wild-card spot. They'll likely face the New York Yankees as the No. 5 seed and could lock into that rivalry matchup by Friday. The Cubs, meanwhile, are one away from clinching a playoff berth.
However, the Boston series will impact how they open the postseason. With five days left in the regular season, the Cubs are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres at 87-70. The team that finishes atop that wild-card trio will get home-field advantage in the first round, and the lowest seed will likely play the Atlanta Braves.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
