The Boston Red Sox will finish the regular season at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, after Major League Baseball moved Sunday’s series finale with the Chicago Cubs out of Fenway Park to dodge a powerful nor’easter sweeping the Northeast.
Originally set for 7:15 p.m. ET Saturday at Fenway, the game is now scheduled for 3:05 p.m. Sunday at the Rays’ dome. Boston announced the shift Friday, shortly before the second game of a weather-driven doubleheader against Chicago, and said Fenway tickets will be fully refunded.
Why the Red Sox Tropicana Field move happened
Forecast high winds, heavy rain, and coastal flood risk forced MLB and the clubs to abandon another outdoor date in Boston. Earlier in the week, Sunday’s scheduled Fenway contest was already pulled forward into Friday’s doubleheader. After sweeping those games 4-3 and 2-0, both clubs flew south “to ensure the safety of both traveling parties,” according to the Red Sox.
Rays CEO Ken Babby said Tampa Bay was “proud to support” the league by hosting, noting clubs helped the Rays when Hurricane Milton badly damaged Tropicana Field’s roof in 2024 and forced an alternate 2025 home. Hosting Boston and Chicago, he said, was a chance to return that solidarity.
Friday’s Fenway sweep sealed Boston’s final tune-up
In Friday’s opener — the makeup of what had been Sunday’s game — Connor Wong’s tiebreaking double in the seventh helped the Red Sox rally from a three-run deficit for a 4-3 win that locked in the American League’s No. 5 seed. Game two stayed scoreless until Wilyer Abreu’s two-run double in the eighth; Brayan Bello and rookie Jedixson Páez combined on a 2-0 shutout that completed the sweep.
Chicago slipped further behind San Diego in the National League wild-card race. Neither club had announced Sunday’s Tropicana Field starters as of Friday night.
Wild Card path still points to the Yankees
Boston already knows its October opener: a best-of-three Wild Card series at the New York Yankees, rematching last year’s AL clash that New York won 2-1. Closing the regular season indoors in Florida does not change seeding, but it does change logistics — travel, bullpen timing, and how pitchers who worked Friday’s twin bill are managed ahead of Tuesday’s postseason start.
The Yankees also reshuffled their Orioles series because of the same storm, playing a Friday doubleheader while keeping Sunday’s Bronx finale as scheduled.
Fan impact and what comes next
Fenway ticket holders for the relocated game receive full refunds. Fans who can travel to Tampa get a rare midseason-style glimpse of Tropicana Field hosting two non-Rays clubs in a pennant-race finale. For Boston, Sunday is less about standings math than about keeping arms healthy and position players sharp before the Yankees series.
Expect roster and pitching updates once both teams settle in Florida. Until then, the story of this Red Sox Tropicana Field finale is clear: a historic weather workaround that closed Fenway’s regular season a day early and sent Boston’s October tune-up 1,200 miles south.
