Garrett Crochet wrapped up his first regular season with the Boston Red Sox with another gem on the mound. The lefty ace has his eyes on much bigger things next week.
Crochet shut the Blue Jays down for eight innings in Toronto on Wednesday night, guiding Boston to a 7-1 victory. The win puts the Red Sox one win away (or one Houston Astros loss) from clinching a spot in the MLB playoffs.
Crochet was everything the Red Sox rotation needed during the regular season. But the 26-year-old southpaw knows his work is far from done in 2025.
“We still got a lot of games that we intend on playing, and I don’t intend on that being my last one,” Crochet said after Wednesday’s outing.
Crochet is now lined up to pitch Game 1 of the American League Wild Card series, which will get underway next Tuesday. That is, assuming the rest of the Red Sox take care of business over the next four days.
“He did his job and now the rest of us have to finish it,” said Boston manager Alex Cora. “Hopefully he can pitch Game 1, whenever it is.”
Crochet has three innings of playoff experience from his time with the White Sox, but his two postseason appearances for Chicago came out of the bullpen. In Boston, he’ll be leading the staff from the very first pitch.
Given how he delivered throughout the regular season, there’s little doubt Crochet will be up for the big stage with Boston.
Garrett Crochet’s electric first season with Red Sox
The Red Sox traded four prospects last December to land Crochet from the White Sox. He was brought in to be Boston’s ace, and the southpaw has lived up to all the hype.
In his 32nd start of the season Wednesday night, Crochet shut down the Blue Jays over eight innings with relative ease. He allowed just three hits, issued no walks, and struck out six as he pitching into the eighth inning for the fourth time this season.
Crochet finished his first regular season with Boston at 18-5 with a 2.59 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP, and an MLB-best 255 strikeouts. He also leads baseball in innings pitched at 205.1, and is one of just two starters with over 200 innings of work this season.
When the Red Sox needed a stopper to end a losing streak, Crochet answered the call. When the Red Sox needed to keep their winning ways going to help their postseason push, Crochet answered the call. When the team needed its ace to eat innings and help rest the bullpen, Crochet answered the call.
“Every five days, it feels like it’s win day,” said Cora. “That’s the reason he’s here. We needed an ace. We got an ace. We extended him. And he did an amazing job today. The guys came out swinging, he had a shutdown inning right after that and he set the tempo from the mound.”
As far as individual accolades go, Crochet has closed the gap on Tigers ace Tarik Skubal in the AL Cy Young race. Skubal has the better ERA at 2.21 (which leads the American League), but Crochet has him in wins (Skubal is 13-6) and strikeouts (255 to 241).
But a regular season award isn’t on Crochet’s mind right now. He doesn’t even want to look back and reflect on his first season in Boston. There is still work to be done, and that’s all that matters for Crochet.
“The next one, man. That’s what I’m looking forward to right now,” Crochet said Wednesday night. “There will be time to be happy about this when the offseason hits, but we intend on that being a month away.”