2025 In A Discarded-On-The-Dugout-Floor Nutshell

Sheer dominance just about every step of the way. An ace the Red Sox should be excited to have locked up for years to come.

The Good

How much more could Boston have asked out of Garrett Crochet in his inaugural season with the Red Sox? It goes beyond the way he anchored the top of the rotation from start to finish — emphasis on start to finish. Throwing over 200 innings for the first time in his big league career all while staying healthy is a feat in and of itself. It’s something the Red Sox have been missing since early Chris Sale—and frankly with the injuries the rotation faced, knowing Crochet would be out there every fifth or sixth day felt like a godsend.

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Opening Day Starter, All Star, MLB strikeouts leader for the 2025 season—one of only five pitchers in franchise history with 250+ strikeouts in a season—what a masterclass and, if not for Tarik Skubal, Cy Young-worthy run.

The Bad

For as consistent as Crochet was this year, no one is ever perfect, and his lone flaw goes beyond the once in a blue moon “I’m due for a blowup game” like we saw on September 2nd in Cleveland. The long ball can be an issue for Crochet. Granted, most of these home runs were solo shots because he rarely allows anyone on base, but even taking out that four-homer blowup against the Guardians, he gave up a home run in almost every outing in August—one allowed in four straight to end the month—as well as two against the Yankees and two against the Rays in September bouts, though he earned wins in both of those games.

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It’s also funny how he’s so clutch in tight games but when he gets too much run support, things can fall apart a little. It’s like he thrives on the pressure. It’s a great thing for the Red Sox, just not much for our hearts as a nation.

Best Game or Moment

I think this ends up not just being one of the best, but the funniest games of the 2025 season. Smacking around the Yankees in the Bronx is always fun. Watching Garrett just MOW down every single Pinstripe that came his way—including getting his 500th career strikeout and 200th of the season—and then basically laughing coming off the mound coming out of the game was just the cherry on top.

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The Big Question

Arguably there are two big questions here: can he continue to do this and can the Red Sox support him as he does?

As mentioned above, this was his first season above 200 frames pitched and 3000 pitches thrown. He lasted the whole season, but can he repeat this? It’s one thing to have as great a year as Crochet did. It’s another to do it year after year without injury or a dip in consistency. The second part of it might even be more important to that cause. The cast of characters around Crochet this year varied tremendously. Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito, Walker Buehler, Tanner Houck, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early, Dustin May, Hunter Dobbins, Richard Fitts, Cooper Criswell, and a complete lack of Kutter Crawford. To be the lynchpin of an entire rotation is enough pressure on its own, but to be the lynchpin of the entire team—depended on every fifth or sixth day to win—when everyone around him was dropping like flies is something else. I can’t imagine the adjustments he had to make on the fly throughout the season.

We certainly can’t take for granted the immense workload he took on, still going at least six innings almost every time when the Red Sox were relying on bullpen days around his spot in the rotation. While he clearly thrives on pressure, taking some of that off of him and giving him a clear boxing partner at the top of the rotation has to be a priority for the offseason.

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2026 and Beyond

A pig’s gotta eat and with the 2025 Garrett Crochet had, he was so clearly well fed. His six-year, $170M extension feels like such a steal for the Red Sox. To have a young, dominant arm on top of this starting rotation for years to come at an extremely reasonable price, enabling FSG to spend more money elsewhere, it’s such an immense win. Will they do it? Who knows. At the very least, Garrett Crochet should continue to thrive as the true ace of the Boston Red Sox. I certainly know we can all enjoy that.