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Boston is the No. 5 seed in the American League playoffs and
will travel to New York to open its Wild Card Series the same
night against the rival Yankees.
Major League Baseball moved the Cubs-Red Sox season finale to
Florida because of a weekend nor’easter that was expected to
batter the Boston area into Monday. Ahead of the storm, the Red
Sox swept a doubleheader from the Cubs on Friday at Fenway Park.
Bregman went 0 for 4 with a strikeout at designated hitter in
the opener — five days after sustaining facial fractures when he
was struck in the face by a foul ball while standing in the
on-deck circle.
The three-time All-Star third baseman, who played for Boston
last year, was the DH again Sunday and fared much better at the
plate in his final postseason tuneup. In addition to finishing a
triple shy of the cycle, he drew a walk and scored three times.
With the NL MVP award virtually locked up, Pete Crow-Armstrong
singled to open the game before Cubs manager Craig Counsell
immediately removed him for pinch-runner Tyrone Taylor. Bregman
launched the next pitch from Tanner Houck (0-1) into the
left-field seats.
Adley Rutschman hit a solo homer off Chicago starter Shota
Imanaga, who was lifted after one inning with postseason seeding
already decided.
Braxton Garrett (1-1) pitched five strong innings in relief for
his first win since May 29, 2024. Colin Rea earned his second
save.
Played at the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, the game drew 20,411
fans who had less than 48 hours’ notice to purchase tickets.
Chicago finished 89-73, three games shy of its 92-70 mark in
2025.
Boston, which was 89-73 in 2025, ended the season 87-75. The Red
Sox fired manager Alex Cora following a 10-17 start and replaced
him with Chad Tracy.
Under Tracy, Boston became the first team to qualify for the
postseason after dropping as many as 44 of its initial 75 games.
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