Red Sox fans smell conspiracy after Yankees' weather earned them rest heading into Wild Card Series

As if Cam Schlittler needed a lift in making Boston Red Sox fans feel upset and aggrieved ahead of this Tuesday's AL Wild Card Series Game 1, Sunday's weather gave Boston an all-new (and ill-fitting) excuse for feeling disrespected.

Horrifying weather threatened both New York and Boston all weekend long. It was visible on the radar long before the curtain rose on the weekend's action. The Yankees' series with the Orioles had absolutely zero potential implications; both teams were locked into their positions (WC1 and "out of October entirely"). The Red Sox needed one win over the Cubs to lock in WC2, and the Cubs' next steps were entirely undetermined at the start of the series.

In response, MLB clustered two Yankees games and two Red Sox games into Friday doubleheaders. They left the Yankees' Sunday game unbothered, and made emergency arrangements to shift the Sox to Tampa, FL at Tropicana Field in case the game was crucial for seeding purposes.

Ultimately, the ball bounced differently. The Cubs choked twice on Friday. The Padres cleaned up the win they needed on Saturday. The game was rendered largely meaningless ahead of first pitch (though, technically, it was for all the marbles if homefield advantage in the World Series comes down to the Cubs and Sox).

As such, the Sox played under a dome while the Yankees sat around for two hours in a drenching rain, then bagged the game, never to be played again, after Cam Schlittler and Max Fried threw playoff rotation-determining bullpen sessions in the rain.

According to many Red Sox fans, this was a grievous example of MLB favoring the Yankees. It might not be fun to fly to Florida, but ... the difference is obvious. When the Sox were shuttled out of state, their game likely mattered.

What did Red Sox fans want MLB to do with Yankees ahead of rainout?

Genuinely asking. What would have been better?

MLB flies the Yankees to Houston or Arizona to play a completely meaningless Game 162 in the interest of evening the playing field by doing something random and insane? MLB flies Boston to Tampa, then flies them back in the dead of night after the Padres game? Would that have been better? MLB does absolutely nothing, holding tight in the face of seeding concerns, risking a Monday game and even less rest if Sox-Cubs had necessitated a third chapter? None of these are good. The third one's probably best, but all of them are bad.

Anyway, yeah. Huge advantage for the Yankees. 96 hours without any live at-bats before facing Payton Tolle should go great. David Bednar hasn't pitched since Friday. The Sox's entire summer run was sparked by travel trouble, as was their pre-All-Star break sweep of the Mets. But yeah. The league loves the Yankees. This is all part of the pro-Yankees agenda. Right.

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