Red Sox's Wild Chicago Delays En Route to Mets Series, Explained

A true "what the heck" moment in the middle of baseball season

Jul 9, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Boston Red Sox outfielder Nate Eaton (18) right fielder Wilyer Abreu (52) and center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela (3) celebrate their win against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Boston Red Sox, the kind of hot stretch that makes you wonder what, if anything, can slow them down.

As it turns out, the answer to the question just might be "airplanes."

Friday was (and continues to be) a wild travel day for the Red Sox, who woke up still riding high off their sweep of the Chicago White Sox. Preparing for a series opener against talented young righty Nolan McLean is tough enough, but long after he and the New York Mets arrived at the ballpark, the Red Sox were still hovering somewhere over the Rust Belt.

Red Sox plane issues cause tight arrival time for opener

Jul 9, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Boston Red Sox center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela (3) makes a catch on Chicago White Sox right fielder Braden Montgomery (not pictured) during the ninth inning at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

As Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reported, the Red Sox got hung up on "multiple plane issues," and were grounded in Chicago until well into the afternoon on Friday. ESPN's Jesse Rogers tweeted at 3:12 p.m. ET that the plane had left the ground, with first pitch scheduled at 7:15.

At 4:40 ET, Chris Cotillo of MassLive tweeted that the Red Sox had landed, and shortly thereafter, he confirmed that the game was still expected to start on time. That still meant they had to get from LaGuardia airport to Citi Field. That's only a 2.6-mile ride, per Google Maps, but on a Friday in the country's busiest city, with people trying to get out of town for vacations, who knows how long the drive might take.

It's such a crucial series for the red-hot Red Sox that one would hate to think that their rhythm could be thrown off by something as trivial as flight delays. Three-time All-Star Sonny Gray, who very much should have made his fourth All-Star team this season, was scheduled to start the series opener in defense of his 10-1 record.

The Red Sox's playoff odds have more than doubled over the last two weeks as they've risen from 32-46 to 43-48. There's real momentum building just ahead of the All-Star break, and a series win against the Mets would go a long way as Boston looks to erase a 2 1/2-game deficit in the wild-card picture.