Garrett Crochet is more than the Boston Red Sox' Game 1 starter against the New York Yankees in the MLB Playoffs on Tuesday. He can even overrule the manager on the team's dress code as it travels to the Bronx.
Red Sox beat writer Tim Healey recounted the story via X on Monday of how Boston ended up traveling south in business casual attire.
“How significant a voice does Garrett Crochet have among the Red Sox?” he wrote. “Their dress code for this road trip was ‘comfortable,' Alex Cora said. He texted everyone insisting on ‘business casual.' So they did.”
“He overruled the manager,” Cora said, per Healey.
“I don’t think it says anything about the mindset,” Crochet told Healey. “This could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some guys on this team, so we should treat it with the dignity it deserves.”
If any player is going to have that type of pull within the organization, Crochet is as good a candidate as any. He was one of the best starting pitchers in the Major Leagues this season, pitching to a 2.59 ERA and striking out 255 batters in 205.1 innings.
His Game 1 start will take on an added importance for Boston after the team announced on Monday that Lucas Giolito — who would have started Game 3 — would miss the series with an elbow injury. With Crochet facing Max Fried in a battle of aces and Brayan Bello going up against Carlos Rodon, that leaves a question mark on Game 3 against the Yankees' breakout rookie Cam Schlittler.
Though Crochet has been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the past two years, he has thrown a grand total of three postseason innings with zero starts. He has had success against the Yankees this year, however, and just delivered eight shutout innings against the Toronto Blue Jays in his final start of the regular season.
