Red Sox fans were ready to complain before the rain even hit, and Sunday’s weather only gave them more fuel.
With Boston and New York both staring at messy conditions all weekend, MLB tried to juggle the calendar around two teams in very different situations. The Yankees’ series with the Orioles had no impact on the standings at all - New York was locked into WC1, while Baltimore was already out of October. Boston, meanwhile, still needed one win over the Cubs to secure WC2, and Chicago’s own situation was still unsettled when the series began.
That led the league to stack two Yankees games and two Red Sox games into Friday doubleheaders. New York’s Sunday game was left alone, while Boston was prepared for a possible move to Tampa, FL at Tropicana Field if its game still had seeding consequences.
Then the results shifted. The Cubs lost twice on Friday, the Padres took care of business on Saturday, and the Red Sox game ended up being mostly meaningless before first pitch. In practical terms, Boston played under a dome while the Yankees sat through two hours of heavy rain, then had their game wiped out after Cam Schlittler and Max Fried threw bullpen sessions in the wet conditions.
That was enough for some Red Sox fans to see a familiar villain.
“So why couldnt the sox game have been PPD? Thats absurd”
- Andrew (@A_Loadingg) September 27, 2026
“Unbelievable...The @mlb definitely favors the yankees.”
- Conservative In Paradise🇺🇸🙏⚾️🏈🏒 (@mariannemonaco) September 27, 2026
But the complaint doesn’t really hold up when you look at the alternatives. MLB could have done something wild and sent the Yankees to Houston or Arizona for a meaningless Game 162 just to make things feel even.
It could have moved Boston to Tampa and then flown the club back in the middle of the night after the Padres game. Or it could have done nothing at all, accepted the possibility of a Monday game, and risked even less rest if Sox-Cubs had required another game.
None of those options is clean, and the third one is probably the best of the bunch.
Still, the irony is hard to miss. The Yankees are the ones getting blamed for a weather break that leaves them with 96 hours without live at-bats before facing Payton Tolle.
David Bednar hasn’t pitched since Friday, either. And if Red Sox fans want to talk about travel chaos as some kind of sinister edge, Boston’s own summer surge was sparked by travel trouble, just as its pre-All-Star break sweep of the Mets was.
In Other News...
Orioles Make A Notable Lineup Change For Season Finale
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The matchup also adds a layer of curiosity on the mound, with Shane Baz making his 32nd start against the Yankees and New York countering with rookie right-hander Elmer Rodrguez, who is still looking for his first major league win. For an Orioles club that is one game ahead of Toronto for fourth in the division, there is still something to be sorted out in the final box score, even if the bigger questions have long since been answered. [Read more 🡒]
Gunnar Hendersons Brutal Take Shows What Orioles Must Fix Fast
Gunnar Henderson was not in the lineup for the second game of the doubleheader, but the bigger note came afterward when he opened up about a disappointing 2026 season and what it meant to come up short of the postseason. The Orioles shortstop did not dress it up, instead pointing to the kind of small details and mental readiness that can get lost over the course of a long season, especially when the expectations in Baltimore are built around playing meaningful games in October.
Henderson also hinted at how much harder the year felt as he dealt with multiple batting coaches and saw pitchers keep adjusting to him as the season went on. For the Orioles, that makes his comments more than a personal reflection. It is a reminder that the fix may not be one big change, but a fast, careful reset in approach, communication and day-to-day consistency before those same issues carry into next year. [Read more 🡒]
Pete Alonso Gives Orioles Fans One More Reason To Watch Yankees Finale
The Orioles head into their regular-season finale in New York with more than just a final box score to sort through. The Yankees have already shifted into postseason mode after getting eliminated from the AL East race, and with regulars getting time off, the afternoon start at 1:05 p.m. only adds to the sense that both clubs are treating this one a little differently than a typical Sunday game, weather permitting.
Pete Alonso gives Baltimore fans another reason to keep an eye on it. He is set to appear in his 162nd game of the season and enters the finale leading the AL in both RBIs and home runs, a reminder that even in a game with little on the line for the standings, there is still individual hardware and late-season milestones in play. [Read more 🡒]