Lance McCullers Jr. will not be pitching in the World Series for the Astros

Much has already been talked about when it comes to how the Braves and Astros will match up in the upcoming World Series. The Astros have one of the scariest lineups in the league while the Braves have a pretty clear edge between the starting rotations. One of the reasons (there are more) that the Braves have such a sizable edge on the starting pitching side was concerns regarding the health of Lance McCullers.

McCullers was quite good for the Astros in the regular season. He posted a 3.16 ERA with 185 strikeouts in 162.1 innings which added up to a 3.5 rWAR season for the righty. Unfortunately for the Astros, McCullers sustained a forearm injury in the ALDS against the White Sox which has kept him out of action. Most observers assumed that he wouldn’t be available to pitch in the World Series, although the team had refused to rule out the possibility.

Until now.

Again, this isn’t surprising news necessarily as all of the reporting surrounding the injury was that he was all but out for pitching again in the playoffs, this is a blow to the Astros as they are going to have to stitch together a pitching rotation that has already been hurt by the loss of Justin Verlander and Father Time seemingly catching up with Zack Greinke.

It stinks to see any player get hurt especially when they would have a chance to pitch in the World Series, but this does help the Braves’ chances and it will be interesting to see how Houston works around the loss.