The Boston Red Sox are at their best with deep starting pitching to ignite postseason runs.

Pedro Martinez anchored the first championship rotation of the century for Boston in 2004 while David Price earned the decisive victory to close out the last World Series title for the Red Sox in 2018. Price came to Boston in 2016 to lead the rotation and moved into the No. 2 spot before the 2017 season when Boston acquired Cy Young candidate Chris Sale.

Sale missed time with a summer injury in 2018, the season when the Red Sox set a franchise record with 108 regular-season wins on their way to a championship. Price pitched to a 3.58 ERA that season with 16 wins over 176.0 innings. He avenged his previous narratives and won his final three starts of that postseason, including clinching victories in the ALCS against the Houston Astros and in the World Series against the Dodgers.

Price’s impact spanned far across that season, most notably through a seven-start stretch with a 3-0 record and a 2.03 ERA over a six-week span in which Sale made just one start due to injury. That type of dependable leader behind the ace in the rotation marked another key to a historic season for the Red Sox.

Fast forward to the current rotation. The Red Sox have their ace of the future in Garrett Crochet, who dominated his way through an All-Star season. He earned Boston’s only win of the postseason with a tremendous effort in Game 1 of the wild card series against the New York Yankees. Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello performed well behind Crochet for the season, but question marks still persist as the Red Sox could really use a true No. 2 this offseason, just as Price pitched as in 2018.

“I remember not too far back, we had David Price as our No. 1 until Chris Sale came back and did what he needed to do,” Martinez told Newsweek. “David Price could be himself. I’m seeing the same thing with Giolito and Crochet. I think Giolito did a great job backing up Crochet and Bello in the rotation.”

Boston reportedly explored a trade for Minnesota Twins starter Joe Ryan at the trade deadline this summer. They should absolutely revisit that negotiation this winter to pair him with Crochet. That move could take pressure off of Bello and fill a spot with Giolito likely to hit free agency. From there, the Red Sox have several pitchers returning from injury next spring and have considerations after strong late-season introductions from young lefties in Payton Tolle and Connelly Early.

“The future is so bright with the new kids we brought up in September,” Martinez added. “They were able to go out there, pitch and present themselves with a great attitude and a great presence on top of the bump.”