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, attributing his elbow soreness to a champagne mishap occurring on the night Houston beat Seattle to advance to its sixth league championship series in as many seasons. McCullers was quick to downplay the severity of his injury, even throwing a successful bullpen session on Friday. Still, the setback was enough for manager Dusty Baker to reorder his starting rotation, swapping places with Cristian Javier, who will now be on the bump for Saturday’s Game 3 followed by McCullers in Game 4.
Though the incident may elicit judgment from fans who are tired of McCullers getting hurt (a strained flexor tendon limited him to just eight regular-season starts), 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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