Roman Anthony’s right hand is suddenly the story hanging over the Red Sox after a brutal Game 1 loss to the Yankees, and the concern traces back to Boston’s so-called “meaningless” Game 162 against the Cubs.
What looked irrelevant by Sunday had once carried meaning when the Red Sox traveled to Tampa Bay on Friday night to escape the Nor’Easter. But after the Padres won Saturday night and locked in the Cubs’ Wild Card seeding, that finale lost its weight.
That shift only sharpened the complaints about Boston’s path and the Yankees’ rainout. Still, the bigger question now is simple: why was any starter, especially a core piece like Anthony, out there at all?
Anthony played in Tampa, grimaced, then showed up before Game 1 in the Bronx with a wrap on his hand. He was late on every Cam Schlittler fastball and left midgame after a check swing on his second strikeout. By the end, the concern was impossible to ignore.
“Roman is out and it looks like the issue may have started in that meaningless Game 162 at the Trop. Yikes. pic.twitter.com/Pf0Q8msF4U”
Chad Tracy said Anthony’s right hand was “uncomfortable,” and later added that it “flared” on a check swing. It’s the same hand that kept him out for most of the season, which makes the whole thing feel even heavier for Boston.
If the issue really is just discomfort, then Anthony probably should have played through it. If it’s more than that, it could swing the series. The Yankees already took control with a dominant Schlittler outing and a late trickle of insurance runs in a 9-0 shutout, and now the Red Sox are left waiting on their young slugger.
“Roman Anthony update: His right hand was “uncomfortable” and “flared” on a check swing, Chad Tracy said.
That’s the same hand that sidelined him most of the season.”
The backdrop makes it sting even more. In last year’s Wild Card Series, the Red Sox arrived in the Bronx without Anthony, and the lineup thinned out before the offense stalled after Garrett Crochet’s Game 1 gem. This time, with Aaron Judge absent from the Yankees’ roster and Anthony and Crochet both back after a lost year, it looked like the script might finally tilt the other way.
Instead, Anthony’s status is now the biggest pregame storyline before Wednesday’s game, when the Yankees will have a chance to close things out. For Tracy, coming off an impressive first season, the choice to run Anthony and the rest of the group out there in that “meaningless” finale is going to loom large.
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