Sonny Gray Calls Himself Best Third Time Through the Order After Red Sox Wild Card Exit

The Boston Red Sox's postseason lasted just two games at Yankee Stadium. In Game 2 of the Wild Card Series the New York Yankees won 9-2, sweeping Boston and moving on to the Division Series. Afterwards, though, the result was not the main talking point. That was Red Sox starter Sonny Gray.

Pulled in the fifth inning

Gray pitched into the fifth inning, throwing 70 pitches and allowing two earned runs on six hits, with five strikeouts and no walks. By the numbers it was not a bad outing, but Red Sox manager Chad Tracy still pulled him in the fifth and turned the game over to the bullpen.

The 36-year-old was clearly unhappy. After the game he said he was the best pitcher in the American League when facing a lineup for the third time, and that he would rather have lived or died with himself in that big moment. He added that he felt strong and confident, and suggested his teammates would have backed him to stay in.

Yankees fans pile on

The comments spread quickly on social media, and Yankees fans did not miss the chance. Some said he was nowhere near the best pitcher in the league, or even on his own team. One posted the list of Cy Young winners to point out that he had never been considered the league's best. Others dug up his comments from the start of the season and called the loss to the Yankees poetic.

Gray's history with New York added fuel. He pitched for the Yankees in 2017 and 2018, struggled there and was eventually traded away, and some Yankees fans have never warmed to him.

What "third time through the order" means

The "third time" Gray mentioned is one of the most important ideas in modern baseball. A starter usually faces the same hitters three or four times in a game. Research shows that by the third meeting, hitters have seen a pitcher's repertoire and patterns and perform noticeably better, an effect known as the times-through-the-order penalty.

That is why more and more managers pull their starters before a lineup comes around a third time, handing the game to a fresh reliever the hitters have not seen yet. Tracy's decision to remove Gray in the fifth was exactly that kind of thinking.

Gray's argument is that he is the exception. A general pattern in the numbers, he suggests, does not apply equally to every pitcher, and an experienced starter deserves to be trusted with the biggest moments of a game. It is one of the most common disagreements between pitchers and managers today.

Gray's career

Gray is a three-time All-Star, and in 2023 with the Minnesota Twins he finished second in the American League Cy Young voting, so he has genuinely been among the best pitchers in the league. Boston acquired him from the St. Louis Cardinals last November, sending Brandon Clarke, Richard Fitts and Patrick Galle in return, in the hope that he would anchor the rotation.

He did win plenty of games for the Red Sox this season, but the early playoff exit has cast a shadow over both the trade and his comments.

An old argument in a new form

Disagreements like this are nothing new. Starters have always wanted to finish what they started, and managers have always had to weigh a pitcher's pride against the score. What has changed is how much information sits behind each decision. Today a manager can see exactly how a pitcher has fared against each hitter a third time, and that data often outweighs how the pitcher says he feels. Gray's frustration is a reminder that numbers and competitive instinct do not always point the same way.

For Baseball Dream players

Deciding when to take out a starter is one of the hardest calls a manager makes. In Baseball Dream you set your own pitching-change timing too: do you trust your ace for a few more innings, or hand the game to the bullpen early? Knowing your pitchers' stamina and how well they handle a lineup is the key to getting that call right when it matters most.

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