It’s my birthday week (celebrated the big day Sunday) so I had the entirety of Tuesday unbooked to enjoy the slate of Game 1 series. Being sour grapes all the time keeps you from being too disappointed when things go downhill during a game. But on the flip side, you end up mourning a loss before the game is actually lost, when there actually may be a good chance of a win.
I went through three stages of grief all before a pitch was thrown in the Bronx, and a fourth early on in the game. The first visceral
reaction came when I saw a rumored lineup card that ended up being pretty close to the actual curation Cora turned in, save for Rob Refsnyder and Romy Gonzalez’s first and fourth holes, respectively, being switched. This did not look like a Major League lineup. Many know me as the guy on this site who’s been building Nick Sogard up since he appeared in Worcester some two and a half seasons ago, but never would I have had him in a starting lineup against Max Fried in Game 1 of the Wild Card round. Same goes for Nate Eaton, not after watching how white hot Masataka Yoshida was for the whole month of September. I joked that Crochet would have to throw nine innings of shutout ball and the Red Sox would need to bring the Manfred runner home in the tenth. (Yes, there is no Manfred Man in the playoffs. It’s been a while since we’ve been here.)
My second grimace came when Tarik Skubal was absolutely dealing during the 1:00 game. Many, including our Bob Osgood, have said that the way Cleveland has been playing, they were, by momentum’s account, the most terrifying of matchups the Red Sox could have had this round. I totally agree with him, but Tarik Skubal is just a different caliber of pitcher, and it showed as he carved up the Guardians’ lineup, allowing just one run while no balls left the infield. Gavin Williams was also dealing in his own right, though his team’s errors ultimately drove him out of the game. Still, the game remained close throughout as Skubal ultimately had to turn the ball over to David Vest for the final four outs after dominating for 107 pitches and tallying 14 strikeouts. I realized in short order that the Red Sox’s lineup could be made to look every bit that anemic, and that they could be snakebitten by that same lack of offensive starting power lat that night.
My next moment of panic came when Nick Pivetta took a quick break from absolutely dealing all afternoon to give up two home runs — and the lead — in as many batters to Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly. No one who has been following this Red Sox team for more than five years will categorize Nick Pivetta as a guy who consistently keeps the ball in the yard, even as he’s had a truly special 2025 after signing his first longer-term deal (cue the quotation marks here). The air was taken out of the room immediately after that second home run, and, with credit to Pivetta and the rest of the San Diego defense, the Cubs were held to just one one more run the rest of the night, preventing the game from becoming a laugher like the nightcap’s Reds-Dodgers matchup. Pivetta, for what it’s worth, set the record for strikeouts in a playoff game by someone born in Canada with nine, with apologies to fellow former Sox pitcher James “Big Maple” Paxton. But, behind an almost non-existent offense, Pivetta made one hiccup and it cost the team direly. The Red Sox could not afford to do the same.
But, as it turns out, even with the offensive’s anemic worries coming to a head, Garrett Crochet is simply a cut above. As Bryan Joiner so beautifully put, it’s the reason you get him. It’s the reason why possible acquisitions before the Crochet trade (Luis Castillo, Sean Manaea, etc. recall this past years’ numerous Smash or Pass articles) were chided, and why not going after Pivetta for a longer deal after the 32-year-old turning down the team’s qualifying offer was begrudgingly justified.
Red Sox fans didn’t just want a rotation arm. They wanted the rotation arm. It helps that “THE” guy also still had team control, and it also helps that Brayan Bello has had exactly the type of upper trajectory you want from a homegrown guy behind Crochet, especially since Walker Buehler, the other offseason acquisition to the rotation, did, uh, NOT pan out.
But, on Tuesday night, only one guy could start anyway, and Crochet showed exactly why he’s a guy a team goes out and gets, and then extends. It’s the reason why no one so much as sweat, even as us worrywarts were as antsy as could be between the Anthony Volpe home run and the offense finally getting to the bullpen following Max Fried’s lockdown – if not short – performance and some key pinch hitting decisions (or lack thereof, in the aforementioned Nick Sogard’s case).
Now, it’s up to Wednesday’s talented, fiery, disciplined and promising starter – and, of course, the bats – to ignore the doubts certain sour grapes like me had on Tuesday and bring this to the next round.
