On September 30, Garrett Crochet will start the Boston Red Sox's Wild Card series opener against the New York Yankees.
It will be the ace's first postseason start, and the pressure is on — not just the pressure to beat Boston's greatest rival, but to live up to his stellar regular season. Crochet posted a 2.59 ERA with an MLB-leading 255 strikeouts in an American League-leading 205.1 innings, and he's a clear frontrunner for the AL Cy Young Award.
ESPN piled even more pressure on Crochet in its MLB postseason preview. Bradford Doolittle didn't mince words when explaining why fans should tune in to Boston's playoff run.
"This is your chance to possibly see baseball's newest postseason legend born," Doolittle wrote. "Yes, Crochet does already have some postseason history under his belt, having tossed three scoreless innings over four relief outings with six whiffs while with the White Sox. But this is a whole different Crochet, a full-blown ace who has seemingly gotten stronger as the season has advanced even though he has never carried anywhere close to this heavy of a workload."
ESPN heaps pressure on Red Sox's Garrett Crochet before his first postseason start against the Yankees
That is strong verbiage for a player who's never made a postseason start before. Crochet is also going up against the Yankees, the best slugging team in MLB, and Aaron Judge, the best hitter in MLB this year and multiple seasons past.
Crochet doesn't need additional pressure from outside forces weighing on him during an away Wild Card series. Boston hasn't made the postseason since 2021, and the expectations of Red Sox fans are high enough on their own. The lefty has long surpassed the highest workload of his career, and the postseason is already a grind without setting personal records.
Despite his high workload and immense pressure, the Red Sox have the utmost confidence in Crochet, as his body of work this season suggests they should. Multiple Red Sox players sang his praises ahead of the Wild Card game, and Judge even joined in.
"We're putting our best foot forward right away. He was brought here to make this start and win this game," Nathaniel Lowe said of Crochet. "It shouldn't be heavy on his shoulders, it should be an exciting task for him because it's the next step for him to get to where he wants to be..."
The Red Sox must win Game 1 of the Wild Card with Crochet on the mound, and losing behind their ace is not an option. Brayan Bello's command has decreased in recent games and Connelly Early made his MLB debut just three weeks ago — Boston's pitching gets much less reliable after Crochet, despite Bello being a Yankee killer. The Red Sox owe Crochet some run support, and they'll need it to fend off the slugging Yankees.