Garrett Crochet powered the Boston Red Sox to an all-important Game 1 win over the New York Yankees in their 2025 AL Wild Card series clash. But it all went downhill for the Red Sox from there. With the two AL East powerhouses trading punches, it was the Yankees that stood tall in the end, with Cam Schlittler throwing the game of his life on Thursday night in Game 3, blanking the Red Sox across eight innings while striking out 12 batters.
Considering how high the Red Sox's hopes were of mounting a deep postseason run heading into the playoffs, it's very difficult to process that their season is already over with the blink of an eye. Game 1 was also a major source of hope, and there were moments in Game 2 where it looked as though the Red Sox were going to deal with the Yankees problem quickly despite being on the road. But instead of heading to Toronto to start the ALDS, Boston is headed home — with Crochet having to grapple with this unfortunate reality.
“The season coming to an end when you don’t expect it to kind of slaps you in the face,” Crochet said, per Tim Healey of the Boston Globe.
No team that made it into the playoffs would expect their run in October to end in the Wild Card series. Otherwise, that's just defeatism at its worst. The Red Sox have been surprising the entire baseball world all season long anyway, with the team performing at a level that's more than the sum of its parts especially after their controversial decision to trade away Rafael Devers earlier in the year.
Nonetheless, this Red Sox team looks poised to compete for the foreseeable future, and with Crochet fronting the rotation, Boston is going to be a force to be reckoned with — just not anymore for the remainder of the 2025 MLB season.
Garrett Crochet's first season with the Red Sox is a major success
There were some concerns regarding Crochet and whether he would be able to handle a full season's worth of workload as the ace of a team with contending aspirations. But the Red Sox believed in him, and their faith in him paid off big time.
Crochet, in the regular season, put up an ERA of 2.59 in 32 starts (205.1 innings) — quelling all concerns regarding his ability to survive a heavy workload. He also struck out 255 batters. Meanwhile, in his first career postseason start, Crochet pitched 7.2 innings of one-run ball, with his only blemish being a home run allowed to Anthony Volpe.
He's been well worth the price the Red Sox paid for him, and the front of their rotation is set for years to come.
