Boston and the Chicago Cubs will travel from Fenway Park to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, to play Game 162 on Sunday.
The Red Sox and Cubs finally know where they will finish out the regular season. AP Photo/Greg M. Cooper
After many rumors and much discussion behind the scenes, the location of the 2026 regular season finale between the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs is finally known.
The two teams will travel from Fenway Park to the Tampa Bay Rays’ domed Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, for a 3:05 p.m. Eastern Time game on Sunday for a rare neutral-site MLB game.
The contest was originally scheduled for Saturday in Boston.
The Red Sox and Cubs played a day-night doubleheader on Friday, the first schedule change in response to this weekend’s nor’easter. The storm is forecast to bring up to six inches of rain to parts of Eastern Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service.
Game 1 was supposed to be the true regular season finale on Sunday afternoon, and first pitch for Game 2 — the original series opener — was pushed up by an hour and a half as the nor’easter approached New England on Friday evening.
One of the rumored possibilities for the game that will now be played down south was for the Red Sox and Cubs to simply play the contest at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, according to Matt Spiegel of 670 The Score.
The Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres reportedly shot the idea down as Boston, Chicago, and MLB tried to come to a decision.
Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said on Friday the entire team has its suitcases packed in case they’re traveling for as long as the ALDS. Boston will fly to Tampa from Boston Friday night for Game 162, then from Tampa to New York Sunday night for the wild-card series, and potentially from New York back to Tampa if it advances to the division series. The Rays have home-field advantage in the ALDS.
“It is what it is,” Tracy said of the uncertainty of this weekend’s series on Friday morning. “It’s strange. At least everybody’s prepared to leave.”
The Red Sox are used to some crazy flight experiences this year, so Chad Tracy isn’t too worried about a potential Tampa trip 🤣
“This is pretty standard… If that’s what happens, we’re gonna have way worse travel days than that.” pic.twitter.com/8V8VWnsofr
— NESN (@NESN) September 25, 2026
Tracy noted that Boston is used to experiencing significant travel issues this season. On two occasions, once in June and again in July, the Red Sox team plane was grounded for hours, causing massive travel delays between series.
After each messy flight to its destination, though, Boston went on to sweep its opponent. Perhaps this weekend’s messy schedule is a good omen for the Red Sox with the playoffs beginning in a few days.
“This is pretty standard. That’s why I’m not making a huge deal of it, to be honest with you,” Tracy said. “We’re going to have had way worse travel days than that this year. Like, two or three of them. So I’m just kind of like, ‘Plane ride, then a day off (Saturday), we’ll get some work in.’ It’s been a lot worse.”
Kaley BrownSports producer
Kaley Brown is a sports producer who covers breaking and trending news about the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox.
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