The day dominant starters returned to the postseason
NEW YORK - The snapshots of Garrett Crochet over the past few days offered the montage of a postseason ace. We now truly know this.
Sunday, it was the 26-year-old sitting at his locker back at Fenway Park, shirtless, having just played catch in preparation for his postseason start. At ease. Confident. Showing no signs that many of the hopes and dreams of the Red Sox and their fans would be piled on him upon taking the Yankee Stadium mound 55 hours later.
"It's not pressure. We earned this," he said matter-of-factly to WEEI.com. "It's not like I'm going to feel pressure, and it's going to turn into nerves. No. I'm going to feel pressure and feel pride in it because we worked for this moment."
A day later, he could be found emerging from the visitors' clubhouse, prioritizing the next-level hot dogs served up at the Bronx venue before sittin,g supplying another dose of calm and confidence to his manager on the eve of their Wild Card showdown against the Yankees.
"We were joking around. For some reason our front office was in the bullpen checking something out there. He was in the dugout with me. I told him, We should call the bullpen," Cora reflected. "He said, 'Tomorrow you are going to make one call to the bullpen.' I said, 'Maybe two.' He's like, 'No, no, no, one. It's going to be straight to Chappy.' Okay, I'll take that."
And?
"That's how it worked out," the manager confirmed.
That is how it worked out. Crochet collected all but the last four outs, which went exclusively to closer Aroldis Chapman. The ace ultimately only allowed one run while striking out 11 and not walking a batter, throwing the most pitches by a postseason pitcher since Adam Wainwright's 120 in 2019, finishing up at 117.
All of it led to the final image, the one with Crochet answering questions at the podium in the ballpark's interview room just as coolly, calmly, and matter-of-factly as he had during that casual conversation in front of his Fenway locker two days before.
For him, it seemed like it was no big deal. But it was. It was the biggest deal.
While Crochet had lived the life of a true ace since joining the Red Sox, this was different. This was a starting pitcher defining his existence in October with the most powerful punctuation of all.
This seemed like the kind of postseason launching pad legends are made. Curt Schilling's 2001, which saw him total a 1.12 ERA in 48 1/3 innings. Josh Beckett in 2007, which saw him give up just four runs in 30 innings. Or Jon Lester throwing 34 2/3 innings in the Sox's 2013 World Series run, surrendering a total of six runs along the way.
There are more. But the vibe Tuesday night, in the belly of the beast that was a stadium full of desperate Yankees fans, should have offered memories of what a get-on-my-back postseason ace looks and feels like.
And much like all those memory-making pitchers that came before him, there was no overt jubilation or signs of satisfaction. A true October ace, like Crochet strongly suggested he is ready to become, lets others do that for him.
"He is a guy that wants it bad, to be honest with you," Cora said after his team's Game 1 win. "He was in a situation last year that he was learning how to become a starter. He got traded to become the ace. He got paid like an ace, and since day one he has acted like that."
"He's the best pitcher in the game," admitted Yankees star Aaron Judge.
Tuesday night, it sure felt that way.