The Boston Red Sox secured their path to the postseason while already bearing the weight of injuries to key players in their lineup, including Roman Anthony and pitching depth options like Dustin May. Another shocking pitcher injury has piled on at the worst possible time.
Lucas Giolito will not be on the Red Sox's Wild Card roster against the New York Yankees, according to Alex Cora in his pre-series press conference on September 29. Giolito is dealing with an elbow issue, and he'll travel to see the doctor who performed the internal brace procedure on his UCL last offseason.
Cora said he hopes Giolito's injury is nothing serious, but even missing the Wild Card series is a troubling outcome for Boston. Giolito was the Red Sox's likely Game 3 starter, if they needed one to decide the Wild Card series. Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello will start Games 1 and 2, but now Boston's Game 3 starter is up in the air.
The Red Sox don't have many experienced options at their disposal, and they've all pitched quite recently. Kyle Harrison and Connelly Early are in the mix for the Thursday start, but Harrison's latest outing was very much up-and-down, and Early made his MLB debut just three weeks ago.
Lucas Giolito will not be on Red Sox's Wild Card roster due to elbow soreness
Alex Cora announces Lucas Giolito won’t be on Wild Card roster after experiencing elbow discomfort. Had to cut most recent bullpen short. Seeing Dr. Dugas. pic.twitter.com/bQD5ZywKq7
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) September 29, 2025
Giolito posted a rough start to the season after a UCL reconstruction and a hamstring strain delayed his Red Sox debut until late April. He righted the ship in May, though, and he posted a 3.41 ERA with 121 strikeouts and 56 walks over 145 innings.
There may have been some signs of troubles in Giolito's latest starts. He has suffered with command in the later months of the season, which also could have been interpreted as exhaustion, but the 22 walks in his last seven starts may also have been a harbinger of injury issues.
Bello and Giolito stepped into trusted roles in the rotation about halfway through this season, and the Red Sox have one of the better starting rotations in the league when they're on. But along with the unfortunate news about Giolito's elbow, Bello has also had some trouble limiting walks down the stretch, with 14 in his last seven starts. Suddenly, Boston's rotation feels much more precarious than it did on the last day of the regular season.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow noted that the Red Sox are still collecting information on Giolto's condition, and he hasn't officially been ruled out for the rest of the postseason (if Boston makes it that far). Elbow injuries often come with long recovery times, so it could be a while before the Red Sox see Giolito on the mound again, if at all.