The Chicago Cubs’ final game of the regular season won’t be played in Boston after all. Instead, following Friday’s doubleheader, the Cubs and Boston Red Sox will finish the weekend series at Tropicana Field in Tampa.
That change comes after a storm pushed MLB to shuffle the schedule again, and it leaves the Cubs with a strange final stretch: two flights in less than 24 hours, first from Chicago to Boston and then from Boston to Tampa. They’ll finish their last game in Florida after all that travel.
The Cubs opened Friday by dropping Game 1 of the doubleheader, 4-3, and that result puts them on the brink of losing home-field advantage in the Wild Card round. To keep that edge, they’ll need to win the final two games of the series and hope the San Diego Padres lose two of three to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The weather in Boston remains a concern for Friday night, so there’s still a chance the schedule could get even messier. As things stand, the Cubs and Red Sox will have Saturday off before wrapping the series at 2 p.m. Central Time on Sunday.
The new setup is still better for Chicago than the version MLB had on the table earlier in the week. A doubleheader on Monday, or even a game pushed all the way to the day before the Wild Card round, would have been a nightmare for the Cubs’ pitching plans.
As it stands now, Shōta Imanaga is lined up for the final regular-season game, and he’d be doing it on short rest after throwing 91 pitches in five innings on Tuesday. The Cubs also won’t be able to use a 27th man for Friday’s doubleheader, since rosters have already expanded in September.
MLB had also considered moving at least part of the series to Tampa Bay, where the Rays’ indoor stadium was available because Tampa Bay ends its season on the road. In the end, that’s where the series is headed - just not in the cleanest way possible.
There’s still a path for the Cubs to make this work in their favor. If they handle business in their next two games against the Miami Marlins, they’ll be in a better position heading into Boston.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, won’t have much to play for, which could keep their top pitchers rested. And if the Cubs get out of Boston on Saturday night, they’ll pick up an extra day off before Monday’s off day.
For a team that has had to grind all season, the Cubs are heading into the finish with another dose of chaos.
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