Red Sox Announce Surprise Decision on Starting Pitcher Before Cubs Season Finale

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The Red Sox announced a surprise decision involving their starting pitcher before the season finale against the Cubs.

The Boston Red Sox made a surprise announcement before their season-ending game against the Chicago Cubs in Tampa Bay Sunday. Tanner Houck will take the mound for the Red Sox, starting the game and concluding an injury rehab that has stretched more than 16 months since his last big league pitch.

The assignment came together late, a sign of how unsettled Boston’s roster still is, and it puts real pressure on an arm that hasn’t thrown a competitive pitch since Tommy John surgery sidelined him last year.

Game 162 was never supposed to happen in Florida. A forecasted nor’easter pushed the finale to Tropicana Field, according to theScore‘s Simon Sharkey-Gotlieb, sending both clubs to St. Petersburg right after Friday’s doubleheader at Fenway Park.

Boston is locked into the American League’s No. 5 seed and opens the Wild Card Series Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. The Cubs, already in the playoffs, send left-hander Shota Imanaga to the mound while they play out the string for seeding.

MLB.com’s own lineup page still listed Boston’s starter as TBD deep into Sunday morning, but beat reporters closed the gap first, with The Boston Globe’s Tim Healey and MassLive’s Chris Cotillo both confirming Houck’s assignment hours before first pitch.

Tanner Houck and the Boston Red Sox’s 16-Month Wait

Houck’s 2025 season came apart fast. He opened the year as Boston’s No. 2 starter behind Garrett Crochet, then posted an 8.04 ERA across nine outings, including two starts in which he allowed 11 earned runs apiece, against Tampa Bay and Detroit.

That Detroit start, a 14-2 loss in which he walked three and struck out none, stands as Houck’s last big league appearance before Sunday.

He landed on the injured list days later with a right flexor strain, and a rehab assignment that July got cut short by the same elbow. Tommy John surgery followed in August 2025, then a return to the 60-day injured list this past February wiped out his entire 2026 regular season.

Houck made his final tuneup Saturday, Sept. 19, for Triple-A Worcester, allowing two runs, one earned on a solo homer, over 3 1/3 relief innings, his fourth and last rehab outing.

“Long year, long process. But this was the goal from Day 1,” Houck said, recalling the target he set in spring, as quoted by MLB.com‘s Ian Browne.

Interim manager Chad Tracy has kept his read on Houck simple.

“Let’s see how these outings go and how he feels and go from there,” Tracy said, as quoted by MLB.com.

Boston Red Sox Weigh Tanner Houck for October

Houck, 30, was Boston’s first-round pick in 2017, No. 24 overall out of Missouri, debuted in September 2020 and is now the longest-tenured player on the Red Sox roster. He made the All-Star team in 2024, going 9-10 with a 3.12 ERA over 30 starts, and carries a career mark of 24-32 with a 3.97 ERA and 449 strikeouts across parts of seven seasons.

None of that guarantees him a Wild Card Series spot. According to a Just Baseball roster projection, however, Houck may beat out fellow rehabbing reliever Johan Oviedo for a bullpen job largely on the strength of his postseason experience.

The Boston Globe‘s Peter Abraham raised the same possibility last week, writing that Houck could factor into the Wild Card mix if his rehab wrapped up cleanly.

No official roster has been announced. Boston will make that call after tonight’s results, with Houck’s final piece of evidence sitting right in front of them.