Why the Red Sox and Cubs are playing Game 162 at Tropicana Field

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Why the Red Sox and Cubs are playing Game 162 at Tropicana Field

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Matt Wadleigh | Last updated Sep 25, 2026 6:47 PM ET

The Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox were set to face each other at Fenway Park on Sunday in the season finale for both teams.

Instead, the game will now be played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, which is where the Tampa Bay Rays play their home games. The league already moved Sunday’s game to Friday as part of a doubleheader in order to try to get it in before the storm hit over the weekend.

The decision was announced on Friday, and the reason why is due to a “forecast for a nor’easter in Boston.”

From MLB: pic.twitter.com/jJUfdTCRu6
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) September 25, 2026

A nor’easter is a large coastal storm that includes strong winds coming from the Northeast, according to the National Weather Service.

The game between the Cubs and the Red Sox will move back to Sunday, and both teams will leave on Friday night to travel to Florida to get ready for the season finale.

It’s certainly an odd scenario, and both teams have clinched Wild Card spots in their respective leagues.

The Cubs, however, will now have gone from Chicago to Boston and to Florida in a span of a few days, and there’s a chance they have to travel to San Diego if the Padres clinch home-field advantage in the Wild Card series.

The Red Sox have a shorter trip as they will head to the Bronx to face the New York Yankees in the Wild Card round.

A similar occurrence happened in 2017 when the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers played a series at Tropicana Field due to Hurricane Harvey.

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