Red Sox set to battle rival Yankees in Wild Card series without key starting pitcher

NEW YORK, NY — The playoff push gets underway for the Red Sox tonight in the Bronx.

The team’s quest for the World Series begins with a three-game series against the evil empire: The New York Yankees.

Monday night will be Garrett Crochet taking the mound for the Sox. But the Sox threw a little curveball, announcing Monday afternoon that one of their starting pitchers is out with an elbow injury and will not be available in this best-of-three series.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Lucas Giolito is seeing a doctor for that elbow issue and that Brayan Bello will be starting game two. The Sox will need their ace to step up. Crochet leads the league in strikeouts and says he’s been working his whole life for this moment.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora reveals Lucas Giolito will not be on Wild Card roster

“I’m just trying to treat it like it’s another start,” said Red Sox Pitcher Garrett Crochet. “You know I’ve pitched here twice this year, faced this lineup four times. I don’t want to say.. It’s comfortable because it’s a tough opposing lineup, but there is a sense of comfort there, just knowing the faces I’m going to be up against.”

“Having that guy at the top of the rotation just sets the tempo for the rest of the week, and that’s what he does,” said Red Sox Manager Alex Cora. “He was the guy who continued the winning streak, and he stopped the losing streak.”

Of course, Crochet will be facing off against Aaron Judge, who ended with the best batting average in the league. Crochet faced Judge 13 times this season - he struck him out 10 of those at-bats. Judge hit two home runs. Sox fans won’t be seeing Roman Anthony at bat; he and Marcelo Mayer are down in Fort Myers.

If you want to go to the Bronx, finding a ticket could be tough. Tickets for tonight’s game on Ticketmaster are only being sold to residents of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. So that means if you want to go, you’ll have to search third-party ticket sellers.

There are tickets available on sites like StubHub, SeatGeek, and Vivid Seats.

On StubHub, Boston 25 found the cheapest seat is going for $97. Seat Geek has a $98 ticket for a spot in the grandstand, and you can get a $99 seat in the grandstand on Vivid Seats. Of course, the better the seat, the more the prices go up. These sites do not restrict sales based on where you live.

As of late, the Sox have had the upper hand on the Yankees in the playoffs—beating them in 2004 and 2018—and in that one wildcard game in 2021. The two teams are tied 12-12 in their playoff matchups.

That will change after this best-of-three series.

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