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...
Yankees Just Gave Red Sox Fans More Motivation Before The Wild Card
With the Wild Card round looming, the Red Sox are approaching this matchup the way October usually demands, one series at a time. Boston has been laying out its rotation with this specific test in mind, and Chad Tracy has kept the message centered on the immediate challenge rather than peeking ahead to anything beyond it.
Across the diamond, Aaron Boones comments about already weighing pitching strategies for the Divisional round only add a little extra fuel to an already charged playoff meeting. Whether Boone intended it or not, it gives Boston plenty of bulletin-board material heading into a Yankees-Red Sox showdown where the first job is simple: survive the opening round and make sure the conversation about later series gets cut short. [Read more 🡒]
Cam Schlittler Just Made Yankees-Red Sox Game 1 Even More Heated
The playoff stage at Yankee Stadium was already going to bring plenty of edge, but Cam Schlittler has helped turn the opener into something even more combustible. The Yankees starter has been trading public jabs with Red Sox fans online, leaning into the noise instead of ducking it, and that has only sharpened the atmosphere around a rivalry that hardly needed extra fuel.
For Boston, the matchup matters because it is not just another October game, it is the first look at a series that now comes with a little more bite. Schlittler is set to be one of the key figures in the spotlight, and his duel with Red Sox starter Payton Tolle adds another layer to a night already heavy with history, tension and the kind of crowd energy that can tilt a series before it really gets going. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox Rookie Suddenly Enters Yankees Wild Card Pitching Debate
The Red Sox have lined up their Wild Card Series rotation against the Yankees, with Payton Tolle set for Game 1, Sonny Gray for Game 2 and Ranger Surez available for a decisive Game 3 if it comes to that. But one of the more interesting developments came Friday, when rookie Jake Bennett worked 3 2/3 scoreless innings in relief, giving Boston another arm to think about as the games get tighter and every bullpen choice starts to matter.
Manager Chad Tracy still has a few pitching calls to make depending on how the series unfolds, and Bennetts outing only adds to the conversation. For a Red Sox staff that already has its starters mapped out, the bigger question may be how much trust Bennett has earned for October leverage, and whether his unexpected late-season push can turn into a real postseason role against their biggest rival. [Read more 🡒]