Though there were some fun surprises on the Boston Red Sox's official Wild Card Round roster — Garrett Crochet, at least in some capacity, is back — it's the absences that figure to define this series. Three pitchers (Tanner Houck, Patrick Sandoval, and Jovani Moran) were left off the team after working the regular season finale, while numerous key hitters couldn't make it back from injury in time.
Most notably, that includes Mickey Gasper, who went down with a serious biceps injury during the final weekend of the season. The actual moment in which he got hurt didn't seem all that bad, but Chad Tracy quickly told reporters that he expected Gasper to miss some time.
Well, we now have confirmation of exactly what happened, and it's going to require season-ending surgery for the slugger. A fair warning: Some may find the image below slightly disturbing.
Mickey Gasper’s biceps tore off his tendon. He will have surgery in Boston Friday pic.twitter.com/0dPknfy3y4
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) September 29, 2026
Tearing your biceps off their tendon sounds painful beyond belief, and hopefully whatever procedure Gasper gets done won't leave any lasting effects. At this point all we can hope for is a healthy return to form in 2027 for the breakout star.
Mickey Gasper's absence looms large as Red Sox fight for playoff lives
Though never a sentence Sox fans thought they'd read before now, losing Gasper prior to their Wild Card round clash with the Yankees is a crushing blow to the Red Sox's championship hopes. The backup catcher was incandescently hot after being called back up to the majors in August, slashing .262/.415/.667 (195 wRC+) with 10 home runs over his last 106 plate appearances prior to getting injured.
At a time when most of the team's bats either went cold or got hurt, Gasper proved to be a North Star for the lineup, routinely providing all the offense in a game for the Red Sox down the stretch. His plate discipline was off the charts (equal 17% walk and strikeout rates), only matched by the incredible power binge he indulged in for a month.
Though both Willson Contreras and Ceddanne Rafaela returned in time for the Wild Card round, both are clearly operating below peak capacity. Roman Anthony and Adley Rutschman began to pick up some slack after Gasper got hurt, though it's hard to replace someone as hot as he was in the lineup. Now, Anthony is injured himself.
Nevertheless, his ill-timed injury is just one more hurdle for the Red Sox to leap over in their improbably quest for a title in 2026. They've defied the odds all season long — the only difference now is they won't have their mustachioed motivator to rally around.
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