A looming nor’easter threatens the Cubs' pivotal final series in Boston, forcing MLB officials to weigh a Friday doubleheader to secure postseason seeding before the storm hits.
The Chicago Cubs have five games remaining in the regular season.
They will finish this three-game series with the Miami Marlins on Thursday and then will head to Boston to take on the Red Sox for another three-game series to end the regular season. However, the upcoming series between the Cubs and the Red Sox is expected to be complicated.
Boston is set to be hit with a bad storm this weekend while the Cubs are in town. A nor’easter is projected to cause stormy conditions across the final days of the regular season, which puts this final series in jeopardy of being played at the scheduled time.
This storm obviously comes at an inopportune time, since the regular season ends on Sunday and the Wild Card Round begins just two days later on Tuesday. There really isn’t any time to reschedule these games.
With the Cubs still fighting for a playoff spot and seeding, these games are pivotal and must be played. The biggest question surrounding this upcoming series is how Major League Baseball will fit in all three games before the start of the Wild Card Round.
As the Cubs, Red Sox, and MLB officials continue to meet to discuss these plans, one scenario has emerged as a possibility. Tim Healey of The Boston Globe reported on Wednesday afternoon that the Cubs and Red Sox “are planning to play a doubleheader on Friday.”
Since the worst of the nor’easter isn’t expected to hit the Boston area until Saturday, the two teams are trying to play two games before the actual heavy rain intensifies. That is expected to come sometime on Saturday evening.
Right now, the Cubs are scheduled to play at 6:10 p.m. CT on Friday, 6:15 p.m. CT on Saturday, and 2:05 p.m. CT on Sunday. But with a potential doubleheader on Friday, the two teams will play an afternoon game on Friday, an evening game on Friday, and another evening game on Saturday. That Saturday game could also be pushed up a couple of hours, depending on when the brunt of the storm hits the Boston area.
If the Cubs do play a doubleheader on Friday and have another game on Saturday, they will wrap up their season by Saturday evening. Chicago would then have two days off on Sunday and Monday before the Wild Card Round starts on Tuesday.
At this time, nothing is official yet. A decision will likely be made very soon.
