'I'm not 100%': Forearm injury keeps right-hander McCullers off Astros ALCS roster

The Houston Astros on Oct. 15 released their roster for the American League Championship Series with a notable absence: Starting pitcher Lance McCullers, Jr.

Speculation around McCullers’ availability arose after the right-hander left the mound after four innings of action in the Astros’ 10-1 AL Division Series winning victory over the Chicago White Sox.

ABC13 reported that McCullers told Astros manager Dusty Baker following his exit that he wasn’t 100%.

"I just I told him, I said, 'Listen, I'm not 100%,' so I pitched the whole fourth inning like that,” the ABC affiliate reported McCullers as saying. “I could probably do it. I don't think it would be the best idea. And so they went to the pen and they did a masterful job."

McCullers, who compiled a 13-5 record with a 3.16 ERA during the 2021 regular season, suffered a forearm injury, MLB.com reported.

“Obviously anytime you have a pitcher coming out with a forearm anything, you want to take your precautions and just make sure you know exactly what’s going on,” the website reported Astros general manager James Click as saying on Oct. 14 just as McCullers had been scheduled to undergo an MRI.

ABC13 reported that McCullers had Tommy John surgery in 2018, which caused him to be out of commission for the 2019 season in which the Astros went to their second World Series in two years.

The Astros, who joined the 1990s Atlanta Braves and the early 1970s Oakland A’s as the only three teams to reach an LCS in five consecutive seasons, face the Boston Red Sox for the AL pennant.

The Red Sox's skipper is Alex Cora, one of the key figures implicated in Houston's sign-stealing scandal.

As of this writing, the Game 1 start that would’ve been McCullers’ went to Framber Valdez.