If the playoffs started today — which we can officially utter without the ‘If’ starting in 18 days — Clay Buchholz would be the Red Sox’ No. 3 starter. After starts in Anaheim by Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, Buchholz would be the one summoned to pitch the Sox’ first home game of the 2009 post-season.

Not only that, but fans of the team would feel pretty confident that the Red Sox would have the edge on the mound that day.

And that, considering where Buchholz found himself a month and a half ago, is fairly remarkable.

“This year feels like it’s going fast,” said the Red Sox’ starter in their series opener against Baltimore, Friday night, at Camden Yards, “but all of what happened seems so long ago.”

The chunk of “what happened” that is still fresh in Buchholz’ mind was the notion that, by this time of the season, he would not be a member of the Red Sox. When the trade deadline came, and the pitcher was forced to see his name on every hotel or clubhouse television set thanks to rumors of his inclusion in various deals, his mind was made up — he thought he was moving on.

“Oh, I thought I was gone,” Buchholz said. “Just a couple of things that were happening just as far as being in the clubhouse and the hotel the night before, seeing your name running on the bottom of the screen. It was crazy.”

The thoughts of potentially being dealt started in the offseason, but were resurfaced when he was called up to start a July 17 game against Toronto. For some, including Buchholz, the timing seemed too coincidental.

“It did right when it happened and then I got here,” said Buchholz regarding if it crossed his mind the Red Sox were calling him up to showcase him for a potential trade. “But then they brought me into the office and told me that wasn’t the reason. I just took what they said, threw everything else out and ran with it. Then a couple of weeks later at the deadline it felt a little bit different again. But it didn’t happen and I’m here.”

Considering his proficiency of late, the Red Sox are glad there was no parting of the ways. In his last four starts, he is 3-0 (with the team going 4-0) with a 1.59 ERA and opposing hitters managing just an .172 batting average against him. He also hasn’t allowed a single home run. 

During that stretch, Buchholz has thrown the sixth-most innings of any pitcher in the big leagues (28 1/3) while allowing the second-fewest hits (17) among the group to have thrown that many frames. 

“In the end, as of right now, it turned out the way I wanted to,” he said, “just not on my timeline.”