Red Sox first pitch delayed after flight issues hold up arrival in New York

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Jul 10, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

The Red Sox were supposed to open their three-game weekend series with the New York Mets on Friday night at 7:15 p.m.

Thanks to numerous flight delays, the team didn’t arrive at Citi Field until close to two hours before the originally scheduled first pitch.

As a result, Friday’s series opener started at 7:50 p.m. instead.

A Red Sox source confirmed at 3:30 p.m. that the team plane was finally airborne after nearly a day’s worth of delays leaving Chicago. The team was originally scheduled to fly from Chicago to New York on Thursday night following the club’s series finale against the White Sox, but according to multiple reports the club’s flight was grounded due to plane issues, which stranded the Red Sox in Chicago into Friday afternoon.

Typically MLB teams arrive at the ballpark roughly five hours before first pitch for pregame meetings and activities. The Red Sox finally arrived at Citi Field at approximately 5:05 p.m.

This marks the second time in three weeks the Red Sox have faced significant travel disruptions. Following the club’s June 24 series finale in Denver the Red Sox’s flight home was forced to turn around and land due to a plane issue, and the team didn’t make it back to Boston until 5 a.m. the following morning.

Since that nightmare flight the Red Sox have seen their fortunes turn around, winning 11 of their last 13 games.