Boston Red Sox Make Stunning Announcement on Sunday

The Boston Red Sox closed the regular season with a starter almost no one expected to see on a big-league mound Sunday.

Tanner Houck, reinstated from the 60-day injured list only hours before first pitch, was named to start the finale against the Chicago Cubs after a rehabilitation process that had stretched more than sixteen months, via Red Sox insider Tim Healey.

The game itself had already been relocated. A forecasted nor’easter forced the clubs out of Fenway Park and into Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, turning Game 162 into a sudden Florida assignment after Friday’s doubleheader in Boston.

Boston entered the afternoon locked into the American League’s No. 5 seed and headed for a Wild Card Series opener at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Chicago, already playoff-bound, sent Shota Imanaga to the mound while both teams finished the schedule.

For much of Sunday morning, official lineup pages still listed Boston’s starter as to be determined. Beat writers filled in the blank first, confirming that Houck would take the ball.

The club’s corresponding roster moves underscored how unsettled the picture remained. Nate Eaton and Wyatt Olds were recalled, Mickey Gasper and Tyron Guerrero went on the injured list, and Eli White was transferred to the 60-day IL as Houck came off it.

Houck’s last major-league appearance had come in 2025, when a season that began with him as Boston’s No. 2 starter behind Garrett Crochet collapsed under an 8.04 ERA in nine outings.

Two of those starts produced eleven earned runs each. A flexor strain followed, a July rehab assignment ended early, and Tommy John surgery in August erased the rest of that year and all of 2026.

His last tuneup came September 19 for Triple-A Worcester, when he allowed two runs over 3 1/3 innings.

“Long year, long process. But this was the goal from Day 1,” he said of a target he had set in spring.

Interim manager Chad Tracy stayed measured, saying the club would watch how the outings felt and go from there.

At 30, Houck is the longest-tenured player on the roster, a 2017 first-round pick who made the All-Star team in 2024 with a 3.12 ERA over thirty starts. A postseason roster spot is not guaranteed.

He may still have to beat out other returning arms for a bullpen role, and Boston will not finalize October plans until after Sunday’s results.

For one afternoon, though, the decision was simple and startling: the man who had not thrown a competitive pitch in the majors since last year would start the last game of the season.