The Boston Red Sox's stint in the postseason wasn't long, partly because the team was so heavily injured entering their Wild Card matchup with the New York Yankees. The Red Sox lost Roman Anthony, Dustin May and Lucas Giolito in the final stretch of the season, along with most of their starting pitching depth along the way .
Giolito's injury was particularly troubling. The Red Sox announced just one day before their first playoff game in four years that Giolito was experiencing elbow discomfort and would not be added to the playoff roster. He served as a reliable No. 2 in Boston's rotation behind Garrett Crochet, and his absence meant that it had to turn to someone inexperienced in its three-game Wild Card bout with New York.
Weeks later, the Red Sox did not extend him the qualifying offer, so he's a free agent without the risk of a potential lost draft pick attached. Giolito appeared on Rob Braford's "Baseball Isn't Boring" podcast to clear up his expectations about the qualifying offer and give some insight on his elbow injury.
"Within three days, my elbow felt 100% fine again... There's no injury, or whatever injury there was is gone," Giolito said. "It was like a weird, freak thing that just popped up at the worst possible time, not only for the Red Sox, myself, just in general, the worst possible time."
The elbow injury that kept Lucas Giolito off Red Sox playoff roster only bothered him for three days
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If Giolito's elbow really only hurt for three days, he possibly could've started the third Wild Card game if the Red Sox placed him on the initial roster. Connelly Early posted a solid outing in his place, despite having just four starts of big league experience, but it would've been nice to have Giolito, a veteran with playoff experience, in the mix.
Giolito's 3.41 regular season ERA over 145 frames may have made him a better fit to start Game 2 than Brayan Bello, whom Alex Cora clearly didn't trust in such a big moment. Giolito has also shown he's capable of success in the postseason when he posted a two-hit, one-run, seven-inning start with eight strikeouts against the A's in 2020. That season was much shorter due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the circumstances around his start were much different, but he thrived under brighter lights nonetheless.
Giolito's injury is, by no means, the reason the Red Sox lost. They only mustered six runs in the series, with none in the final game, and extra-base hits were almost nowhere to be seen. The series is in the past, but now Sox fans will be left to wonder what could've been if Giolito was on the playoff roster.