The fact that the injured Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer will not be in the dugout for the Red Sox playoff run in 2025 — the season that was supposed to be The Year of the Big Three — is devastating. (It sucks that Kristian Campbell won’t be in there, either, but that’s for other reasons.) But Anthony, at least, is still trying to get back on the field, and he’ll head to Fort Myers as part of a group of injured players who will continue their rehab down south. Don’t get your hopes up, though — there is no timetable for his return from the oblique injury that ended his season. (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)
We’ve had time to get used to Anthony’s injury. We haven’t had time to get used to this one: moments ago, Alex Cora announced that Lucas Giolito will miss the Yankees series with elbow soreness.
But, thankfully, Garrett Crochet is NOT injured, and he’ll take the ball in game one of the Wild Card Series against the Yankees. Crochet has been dominant all season. Now, ESPN is saying he could become baseball’s newest postseason legend. (ESPN.com)
To the extent that there was ever a question about who would be starting Game Two, that question is answered with Giolito’s injury. It’ll be Brayan Bello. After an unreal middle stretch of the season, Bello’s been a little shaky as of late. But the good news is he absolutely owns the Yankees, both over the course of his career (2.35 ERA in 11 career starts) and in 2025 (1.89 ERA in 3 starts). (Christopher Smith, MassLive)
So who gets the ball in a potential Game Three? It’s hard to argue that Connelly Early hasn’t earned it. (Justin Turpin, WEEI)
I’ll take Garrett Crochet over any one on Earth outside of the Skenes family to start a playoff series, and I’m comfortable with Bello starting behind him. But starting pitching is not what the Red Sox are best at. This playoff preview takes a look at all 12 teams to see what they do better and worse than the rest of the playoff field. What do the Red Sox do better than every other playoff team? Play outfield defense. What do they do worse? Make errors. Baseball is funny. (Stephen J. Nesbitt and Chad Jennings, The Athletic)
Unfortunately, the Yankees do have a pretty good top of the rotation themselves. And it’s left-handed. That means we’re going to need some contributions from the team’s designated lefty-killers, Romy Gonzalez and Rob Refsnyder. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
The Sox won’t be throwing any lefties to start the first two games against the Yankees, but they will likely have plenty of southpaws in the bullpen. (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)
And, thankfully, the Sox have had the better of the Yankees all season long, going 9-4 against their blood rivals, which was their best record in the rivalry since 1973. Don’t get complacent, though: the Yankees are playing some of their best baseball of the year right now. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
