There is no need to explain the rivalry, but the stakes have never been higher. The Boston Red Sox are down one of the three starters who helped them get through a summer of roster chaos as they get ready to play the Yankees in a Wild Card game that will decide their season. This year, their ace pitched 145 innings and had a 3.41 ERA. From June on, he had a scorching 2.51 ERA in 19 starts. As the tension grew at Yankee Stadium on Monday, manager Alex Cora announced that their ace would not pitch in this series.

Lucas Giolito, the right-handed pitcher whose $38.5 million contract showed Boston’s faith in his return, will not pitch in this series. An elbow injury has kept the pitcher, who had been holding down a rotation that was hurt for months, from playing. The Red Sox relied heavily on Giolito, Garrett Crochet, and Brayan Bello all summer, and together they kept their hopes of making the playoffs alive. That base has now broken as we head into the most important games of the year.

“Lucas is not going to be on the roster,” Alex Cora said on Monday, and his words felt like they had an entire season’s worth of pressure behind them. “He has been battling with his elbow for the last few days. Today, he went to see Dr. Dugas. Hopefully, it’s nothing major, but he won’t be ready for this one.”

Giolito was the top choice to start a possible Game 3, so his absence was immediately felt in the Boston Red Sox’s plans. Cora admitted that there was a lot of uncertainty ahead: “We’ll go the first two games, then we’ll decide. Obviously, we have some kids over there who have started lately. But first things first: Crochet, Bello, and if we have to make a decision for Game 3, we’ll go from there.”

The story of Giolito’s 2025 campaign was one of redemption. He missed the whole 2024 season because of UCL surgery, but he came back and pitched 145 innings with a 3.41 ERA. Starting on June 10, he stepped up his game even more, posting a 2.51 ERA in 19 starts. Connelly Early and Kyle Harrison, two young lefties, are now in the running for Game 3. This is a development few could have seen coming.

As expected, fan jumped into the comments section to express their views on this development.

Fans give their take as Lucas Giolito will miss the Yankees series

The news spread quickly on social media, and the reactions showed how divisive Giolito’s performance had been. His 3.41 ERA made him seem reliable, but advanced metrics told a different story, and fans quickly noticed the difference.

One fan wrote, “Damn, the Red Sox might actually win the series now,” pointing to Giolito’s low 19.7% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate, which gave him a 4.17 FIP and 4.66 SIERA. Some people thought Boston might be better off without him because these numbers showed that his success on the surface hid deeper problems. Another person said this very clearly: “This is good news for Boston, by the way.” People were worried that Giolito’s results wouldn’t last as they got ready for the biggest stage in October.

Not everyone agreed with that point of view. Another response said, “Tough news for Boston,” acknowledging that losing a pitcher who pitched 145 innings in a rotation that was already hurt is a big loss. The Boston Red Sox relied on Giolito a lot during their playoff run, and now they have to rely on players who haven’t played much in big games.

Yankees fans, on the other hand, were very happy. One user said, “Yankees fans have it so good,” knowing that it would be a huge advantage to face inexperienced starters like Early or Harrison in a possible Game 3. Another person didn’t pay attention to the news at all and said, “He wasn’t going to see the mound anyway.” This reaction showed a harsher truth: even if Giolito was healthy, Cora might not have trusted him in a win-or-go-home situation against a strong Yankees lineup because his stats were so unpredictable.