Major League Baseball’s weekend weather shuffle ended up handing the Yankees a cleaner path into the Wild Card round, while the Red Sox were left with the tougher travel and a shorter turnaround.
Boston and Chicago had already adjusted to a late-September Nor’easter, with the Cubs coming to Fenway Park for a Friday doubleheader and Sunday’s game moved to the afternoon to dodge the worst of the storm. The expectation at first was that the teams would still get in a third game on Saturday and then enjoy an extra day before the Wild Card series.
That didn’t happen for New York.
Heavy rain and high winds hit the city as well, and MLB expected as much, but the Yankees’ final game against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium was canceled because the ballpark doesn’t have a roof. The league did not make arrangements for the game to be played elsewhere, and it will not be made up Monday. As a result, the Yankees head into the Wild Card series with three days of rest after their Saturday game was also wiped out.
The matchup with Baltimore carried no standings impact. New York had already locked up its playoff berth, and Baltimore was already out of the race. Boston’s final game against Chicago ended up in the same category after the Cubs lost both games of their Friday doubleheader, making game 162 meaningless for them too.
There were roofed parks available if MLB wanted to move the Yankees-Orioles finale. Daikin Park in Houston was one option, since the Astros had already finished their season in Sacramento. Instead, the league let the Yankees sit while the Red Sox had to keep dealing with the disruption.
That leaves Boston heading to Yankee Stadium with one fewer day of rest than New York. Every meeting between the teams is already a battle, and now the Red Sox have to walk in with the added burden of a tighter schedule.
The Red Sox can at least hope the layoff works against the Yankees. A long break can knock hitters out of rhythm and leave a team a little stale when the postseason starts. But it can also do the opposite.
MLB had the same warning about the weather in New York that it had in Boston. Still, only one team is being asked to go through the motions of a meaningless game, one the league knew was meaningless before the Red Sox or Cubs left Boston on Friday. And if the storm slows Boston’s trip north after the game, that’s another complication the Yankees were spared.
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