As one of the longest-tenured Astros (he debuted for them in 2015), Lance McCullers has enjoyed more than his fair share of locker-room celebrations, reaching the playoffs in seven of his eight seasons with the club - including World Series appearances in 2017, 2019 and 2021. Given his experience in the latter, McCullers should be well aware of the dangers these festivities present, with lit cigars, corks, glass bottles and champagne spray all posing potential safety hazards.
Unfortunately, the Astros ace couldn’t stay out of harm’s way in his team's ALDS celebration, as he has been pushed back to Sunday's Game 3 due to swelling and a small cut on his elbow - attributed to a champagne mishap from the night Houston beat Seattle to advance to its sixth league championship series in as many seasons?
"So, unfortunately, after the victory in Seattle, I caught a spare champagne bottle to the elbow bone. I'm okay. It was just a little bit of swelling and a small cut, not a huge deal," McCullers said Friday.
McCullers threw a 35 pitch bullpen session that was "great" on Friday, but manager Dusty Baker announced that he would flip McCullers and Cristian Javier, the scheduled Game 4 starter who will now go Saturday in Game 3.
"We thought it would be beneficial to give me some days off, let everything settle down and give me an extra day to go Game 4," McCullers said. "It was really no one's fault, it was just an accident. So it's not a huge deal."
McCullers was quick to downplay the severity of his injury, noting that he was more upset he wouldn't be able to possibly give the Astros two starts in the series, the second of which would've been a potential Game 7 start on short rest on Wednesday.
The incident may still elicit judgment from fans who are tired of McCullers getting hurt (a strained flexor tendon limited him to just eight regular-season starts), but Javier has been plenty effective this year, particularly at Yankee Stadium, where he threw a combined no-hitter on June 25th. His opponent that day was Gerrit Cole, who, as fate would have it, will also be on the mound for Saturday’s Game 3.
The top-seeded Astros haven’t hit much in October (.229 team batting average), though thanks to their dominant pitching, they haven’t needed to, compiling a 1.83 ERA over 54 postseason innings. For McCullers, Sunday will mark his first postseason appearance against the Yankees since coming out of the bullpen to pitch four shutout innings in Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS, a gutsy performance best remembered for a remarkable stretch of 24 straight curveballs.
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