Cubs’ Trip to Boston Being Threatened by Developing Nor’easter
The Cubs are currently bunched up in the Wild Card race, tied with the Padres for the top two seeds and just a game ahead of the Phillies in third. With only six games left for all three teams, the results of the next week are a little more than mildly important. That could get complicated for the Cubs, who are scheduled to end the season against the Red Sox in Boston.
As Matthew Gross of Over the Monster laid out, the EC-AIFA model — a very trustworthy artificial intelligence forecasting system — shows “an intensifying, retrograding nor’easter backing into Boston at the end of the week, and then lasting through the entire weekend.” Even if the storm doesn’t reach the severity of what’s being predicted, we’re probably looking at enough rain to force at least one of the games to a different day.
I can’t stress enough how messy the Cubs and Red Sox situation is about to get if anything close to a storm like this comes to fruition next weekend (a high likelihood given the blocking pattern in eastern Canada).
The Red Sox are virtually locked into the second AL Wild Card… pic.twitter.com/E4jKktW63x
— Matthew Gross (@MattGross87) September 21, 2026
Complicating the matter is the fact that the Red Sox are essentially locked into the second Wild Card spot in the AL and have their top three starters going in their series against Cleveland. As such, they would just as soon bang the games and get on with the postseason. With the postseason set to open on Tuesday, September 29, the possibility of having to play a makeup doubleheader is about the worst possible outcome.
The Red Sox would have nothing to play for, so burning an off day would be suboptimal. The Cubs would have to expend more effort because they’ll presumably need wins to secure the top spot, but they might be playing against a team that is just mailing it in. That’s not going to sit well with the Phillies and Padres, nor is it a good look for MLB.
While there probably isn’t a perfect solution, I’d just as soon see the league move the games to a neutral location, ideally one with a dome, to mitigate the potential fiasco. This whole thing reminds me of September 13, 2018, when the Cubs were forced to fly to Washington for a makeup game against the Nationals that was being threatened by Hurricane Florence.
The Cubs ended up winning the game, but it meant forfeiting their final off day and playing 30 games in as many days. They also lost Pedro Strop to a hamstring injury suffered when he ran to first after batting for himself so he could remain in the game as a reliever. They went on to lose Game 163 to the Brewers, costing them the division and pushing them into a win-or-go-home Wild Card game against the Rockies. With no gas left in the tank, the Cubs face-planted in their lone postseason contest after three straight trips to the NLCS.
