A Red Sox-Cubs World Series? We'd have Fenway, Wrigley and so much more

New York Times

17-07-2025

It's not just Cal Raleigh and Kyle Schwarber who've been delivering home run swagger this week. How about that home run from the MLB schedule makers? Right out of the post-All-Star Game gate, we're going to have the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs in a three-game weekend series at Wrigley Field.
True, interleague play has been around in some form since 1997, which means it's no longer sparkly and exciting in and of itself. But Red Sox-Cubs is different, partly because of each team's ancient and lovely ballpark but also because it's two franchises that endured decades and decades of bad luck, bad hops and bad karma before finally winning championships.
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The bonus is that this series won't be limited to a throwdown as to whether Wrigley or Boston's Fenway Park is the better of the two ancient ballyards. For though Fenway-versus-Wrigley is a big part of any Red Sox-Cubs discussion, this time it's the actual talent of the clubs that stands out.
The Cubs are in first place in the National League Central. They've got Pete Crow-Armstrong, the dazzling 23-year-old who's already hit 25 home runs and knocked in 71 runs. And they have journeyman lefty Matthew Boyd, who has chosen 2025 and Chicago's North Side to deliver both a career year and a feel-good story. He's 10-3 with a 2.34 ERA in 19 starts playing for the team his late grandfather rooted for back in the day.
The Red Sox, written off by many (including me!) just weeks ago, take a 10-game winning streak into the series, which kicks off with a Friday matinee.
The Red Sox didn't merely 'win' those 10 straight games. They screamed them from a mountaintop, is what they did. It began with an 11-2 victory over the Washington Nationals in which shortstop Trevor Story collected four hits and knocked in four runs. There was a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, thanks to Ceddanne Rafaela's two-run, walk-off home run. NESN's Dave O'Brien delivered a home run call that was of such moment-capturing brilliance that Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman felt compelled to mention it when he was interviewed on the pregame show the next day. And later that day was when Red Sox lefty Garrett Crochet pitched a three-hit shutout in Boston's 1-0 victory over the Rays.
CEDDANNE RAFAELA HITS IT OUT OF FENWAY 😤
THE @REDSOX ARE WALK-OFF WINNERS! pic.twitter.com/6LEzWZVQ7E
— MLB (@MLB) July 12, 2025
The Red Sox? Dead? Not only are they not dead, it's as though magic wackadoo dust has altered the senses of everyone from casual fans to press box know-it-alls. How else to explain all these people who suddenly are talking about the Red Sox playing in the World Series? As in this year's World Series.
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To roll out just one example, let's offer up The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. 'They are a team that, frankly, might be in the World Series if they make the right moves here,' said Rosenthal, discussing the trade deadline on the 'Fair Territory' podcast.
But if the very thought of the Red Sox continuing to play graceful baseball and making it to the World Series sounds far-fetched, how about something that's, um, farrer-fetched? How about we get that World Series we've been waiting for since 1918? Yep: How about we get a 2025 World Series between the Red Sox and Cubs?
Admittedly, a Red Sox-Cubs World Series would have had more snap, crackle and pop had the Sox been looking for their first championship since 1918 and the Cubs their first championship since 1908. It looked like we might have had one in 2003, when the Red Sox were playing the New York Yankees in the ALCS and the Cubs were playing the Florida Marlins in the NLCS. MLB commissioner Bud Selig, appearing on Boston all-sports station WEEI during the Sox-Yankees series, was practically salivating over a Red Sox-Cubs World Series.
Alas, the world wasn't ready. That's why Steve Bartman was sent by the baseball gods to derail the Cubs in Game 6 of the NLCS. Those same gods sent cosmic messages to Red Sox manager Grady Little with instructions to leave Pedro Martínez on the mound in Game 7 of the ALCS — even after the Dominican Dandy had surpassed the dreaded 100-pitch threshold. (Which, at that stage in Pedro's career, was when every opposing hitter turned into Ty Cobb.)
Instead of Red Sox-Cubs in the 2003 World Series, it was Yankees-Marlins. The Marlins took out the Yankees in six games. Not that anyone in Boston or Chicago noticed, given all the screaming and finger-pointing that was going on in those towns.
It used to be said the world would come to an end if the Red Sox and Cubs were to play in the World Series. A clever line in its time, it's no longer relevant. The Red Sox eventually won the World Series in 2004 for their first championship since beating the Cubs 86 years earlier. As in … 1918. As for the modern-day Cubs, the 2016 crew won the franchise's first World Series since 1908 with a Game 7, 10-inning, 8-7 victory over Cleveland.
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But a Red Sox-Cubs World Series, even without the world-coming-to-an-end warning label, would be must-see TV. The teams do have exciting players. And to get back to the ballparks, it would be impossible not to take notice of a 2025 World Series played at ballparks that were built for people born in the 19th century.
There used to be this unwritten 'no dead guys' rule in baseball, the idea being that MLB should focus on today's stars and stop dredging up players from the past. The anecdotal evidence suggests baseball no longer abides by that unwritten rule. MLB certainly celebrates and promotes its megastars of today — Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, just to pick two players, are gifts from marketing heaven — but legends from yesteryear are being reworked into the discussion. Witness the manner in which players from the old Negro Leagues have been granted posthumous major-league status. In 2022, the documentary 'It Ain't Over,' about the life of the late Yankees legend Yogi Berra, was critically acclaimed. And, wow, how about that tribute to the late Hank Aaron during the All-Star Game?
I tell you all that so I can tell you this: A Red Sox-Cubs World Series would present an opportunity to re-celebrate two late legends who remain the faces of their franchises. That's Ted Williams of the Red Sox and Ernie Banks of the Cubs, of course.
Ted Williams and Ernie Banks at the 500 Home Run hitters reunion in 1996. pic.twitter.com/yOdXzsh2ML
— Baseball's Greatest Moments (@BBGreatMoments) May 16, 2025
If those added storylines are not enough, there's so much more. From Hollywood, it'd be Cubs fans Bill Murray and John Cusack versus Red Sox fans Matt Damon and the Affleck boys, Ben and Casey. Political punditry could give us Sox fans Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor ('Crooked Media') ganging up on Cubs fan David Axelrod (CNN).
We could write about how Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer started his front-office career with the Red Sox, and how Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow started his front-office career with the Cubs.
Theo Epstein, who built World Series-winning rosters for the Red Sox and Cubs, would be worthy of throwing out a first pitch for both teams.
We could go on and on here, but it all comes back to this: The Red Sox and Cubs have exciting players and are playing fine baseball. We'll see that this weekend.
Perhaps we'll see more of it in October.
(Photo of Ceddanne Rafaela: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)