CHICAGO – Theo Epstein’s worlds collided Friday when his former and current teams met at Wrigley Field for just the second time in 94 years.

In the teams’ third meeting since the 1918 World Series, the Red Sox’s three-game weekend visit to Wrigley marked their first since 2005 when the Cubs won two of three games. Epstein, Boston’s general manager for eight seasons and currently the Cubs’ president of baseball operations, is ready for the hoopla surrounding him and his former organization to pass.

“I don’t know if we’ve been talking about it that long, but it’s one of those things where you can’t wait for it to come and you can’t wait for it to be over either,” Epstein said. “We don’t get to play these guys very often, so we have to relish it.”