Red Sox Reportedly Were Stuck In Chicago After 'Multiple Plane Issues' Ahead of Mets Series

The Boston Red Sox and New York Mets matchup on Friday at Citi Field will be delayed until 7:50 p.m. ET after the Red Sox encountered travel delays en route to New York, the league announced.

First pitch was originally scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET.

Per Tim Healey of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox's plane dealt with multiple issues while trying to leave Chicago and was unable to leave the ground. MassLive's Chris Cotillo noted that the current flight plan has Boston arriving at LaGuardia Airport at 4:10 p.m. ET, just hours before the 7:15 p.m. game.

The Red Sox were eventually able to depart Chicago and arrived in time for Friday's game:

This isn't the first time this year that the Red Sox have dealt with travel issues. Healey noted that last month, after a series in Colorado against the Rockies, the team had trouble leaving the airport and didn't arrive back in Boston until around 5 a.m. ahead of a series against the New York Yankees.

But the travel issues last time didn't seem to impact the Red Sox too much, as they swept the Yankees in the four-game series, starting a stretch in which they won 11 of 13 games. Boston swept the Angels and White Sox over their last six games, and they'll look to continue riding the win streak into the series against the Mets.

Boston had a disastrous start to the season, leading it to fire manager Alex Cora and other coaches. The Red Sox are currently sitting in fourth place in the AL East at 43-48.

Even with their recent success, the Red Sox's chances of reaching the postseason are slim. According to FanGraphs, Boston has a 30.5 percent chance of making the playoffs.

Boston is 2.5 games back in the wild-card race, though, and recent struggles from teams around the American League have helped keep the Red Sox within striking distance.

If Boston can continue its strong play over the next few weeks and perhaps make some upgrades at the trade deadline, it's not unrealistic to think the Red Sox could end up in the playoff mix by season's end.