NEW YORK – A day after the start of Game 1 of the American League Championship Series for the Cleveland Guardians, Alex Cobb’s season is over due to an acute strain of the left lower back, the team announced Tuesday.

The Guardians replaced the right-hander on their roster with Ben Lively, another right-handed starter, making Cobb ineligible for the team’s World Series roster if they were to advance.

Lively led the Guardians in wins during the regular season, going 13-10 with a 3.81 ERA in 29 starts.

The move required approval from Major League Baseball because only injured players can be removed from the roster.

Cobb, 37, ended just 2⅔ innings in Monday’s 6-2 loss to the New York Yankees. Manager Stephen Vogt said Cobb’s left hip tightened and he suffered back spasms.

“This type of injury would be a full IL stint,” Vogt said before Game 2. “And given the timing of the year, the chances of him pitching again were very, very, very slim.

The lively and left-handed Gavin Williams is a candidate to start Game 3 on Thursday in Cleveland.

“We don’t know what we’re going to get,” Vogt said. “Alex was supposed to start Game 5. Now we have to find out today that we have six games left.”

The trade caps a turbulent season for Cobb, who made just five starts for Cleveland this season after being acquired from the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline — three during the regular season and two in the playoffs.

The 2023 All-Star didn’t make his season debut until Aug. 9 after undergoing hip surgery last October. He ended up on the injured list two more times before the end of the regular season with a broken fingernail on his right hand and a blister on his right middle finger.

Cobb went 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA in his two postseason appearances for the Guardians.

Lively, 32, did not make the Guardians’ ALDS roster and has not pitched since the penultimate day of the regular season on September 28. He has never pitched in the postseason.

“I’m just going to stay on the same training program as when I started: training day, tough bullpen day in between and just try to stay built up,” Lively said.

Lively faced the Yankees once, on May 19 last year for Cincinnati, when he allowed Aaron Judge’s home run in the first inning and issued a sixth-inning walk to Judge, who scored on Anthony Rizzo’s home run on reliever Ian Gibaut in a 6-2. New York wins.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.