1:27 pm: Houston general manager James Click tells Brian McTaggart of MLB.com and other reporters that the club is still evaluating the results of McCullers’ MRI.
12:51 pm: Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. left his final start of the club’s Division Series win over the White Sox after four innings due to some tightness in his forearm. Jon Heyman of the MLB Network now reports (Twitter link) that McCullers is likely unavailable for the upcoming AL Championship Series against the Red Sox, which is scheduled to begin on Friday. However, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that he might be able to return for the World Series, should the Astros advance.
It doesn’t seem to be a long-term concern, as Heyman reported this morning that an MRI suggested McCullers “should be fine in the long run.” That aligns with the pitcher’s initial assessment of the injury, as he told reporters on Tuesday that he didn’t believe the issue to be related to his ligament. McCullers missed the entire 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Given that injury history, it’s no surprise the Astros are expected to play things cautiously with McCullers over the coming days. He remains a vital part of the franchise’s long-term future, having signed a five-year, $85MM extension in March that’ll take effect beginning in 2022.
Still, his (presumed) absence will be felt over the upcoming series, as McCullers is arguably the Astros’ top pitcher. This season, he worked 162 1/3 innings of 3.16 ERA/4.01 SIERA ball. As he typically does, the righty posted well above-average strikeout and ground-ball rates (27% and 56.4%, respectively). That offset an elevated 11.1% walk percentage to allow McCullers to post the fifth sub-4.00 ERA season in his six-year MLB career.
In McCullers’ absence, Houston looks likely to turn to some combination of Framber Valdez, Luis Garcia, José Urquidy and Zack Greinke to start against Boston. Jake Odorizzi was a healthy scratch for the Division Series, although he could be brought back onto the ALCS roster in McCullers’ place to offer an additional starting and/or multi-inning relief option.
Awesome pitcher. Huge break for Boston to not face him in G3/G7 scenario.
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
Fever someone is calling you out on the David Hess article. Tell him what’s up.
Thanks theodore, I appreciate the heads up,
I just responded there in detail. Not sure what the deal is, but their accusations were ridiculously false.
I’ve posted hundreds of lengthy comments over the past couple weeks that have absolutely nothing to do with injury or illness. One look at just the Red Sox articles alone is plenty of proof.
Big if true
Why would it not be true?
Bad journalism?
Right before the postseason there were reports that Whitlock’s back injury would prevent him from pitching again this year. Obviously the reports were bogus. It’s not necessarily bad journalism, could be gamesmanship.
Much rather see Javier than Greinke Or Odorizzi.
Odorizzi won’t be starting, but he would give them another long reliever along with whichever of the other two doesn’t start (Javier or Greinke). Luckily the Astros have a lot of viable options here.
Dusty and sore armed pitchers. Hope this doesn’t turn into a Kerry Wood, Mark Prior type outcome. It doesn’t sounds like it will, that’s good.
What a lazy take, even comparing the situations.
That has always been a dumb take regarding Baker. These same people give Billy Martin a pass for what happened in Oakland. Hmmm….
As a Red Sox fan, I’d rather see their best. Hope he recovers quickly and completely.
Completely agree on facing the best an opponent has to offer. Gives a true sense of who the better team is for that series.
Regardless, it promises to be an exciting series to watch!
Eovaldi doesn’t get to pitch now. That’s he deal.
*the deal
White Sox could have won that series without him. This is a HUGE deal. the rest of the rotation can piece together some quality starts, but in no way have that dominant stuff he did for 2 starts in the ALDS
Yup. They have 7 SPs that can really deal, but he was probably the one I feared the most. A good combination of talent and grizzled veteran-ness.
The white Sox suck
Wow, big break for Boston! Sox are still underdogs and will need to get something positive out of E-Rod and Chris Sale if they want to advance to the World Series.
Pretty much our starting rotation has been good recently, but still inconsistent. But Sale is the biggie. Vintage Sale, even the 2021 version, is formidable.
Well here’s something interesting for all the Fangraph aficionados.
fangraphs.com/standings/playoff-odds
The Red Sox are FAVORED to beat the Astros in the ALCS.
However the Astros are the FAVORITE to win the World Series.
Anybody wanna take a shot at explaining that one? LOL!!!.
If those odds are before the Giants-Dodgers is resolved, it means the bettors don’t know where to place their bets for the WS. Once the Giants-Dodgers resolve, the odds for the WS will change.
The way Astros have been hitting they could throw a league average starting pitcher out every game and do just fine.
Man that sucks for Houston. Will be an interesting series.. The Astros, who could still cheating now, and the king cheater in Cora managing the Red Sox.. Who gets caught cheating in this series folks?
Probably the Dodgers will be against the Braves, that’s the only reason they got to the NLCS at all. It’s just so typical of LA teams having the refs give them every single call possible in any sport. That last strikeout against the Giants was completely ridiculous.
Astros will use deer antler spray and he will be back
If he’s “vaccinated” then yikes. Would explain the tightness for sure.