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Bullpen of the Week: ‘Pen keeps Bucs afloat
- Updated: September 19, 2016
After the Pirates were seemingly eliminated from contention for the National League Central division crown by mid-June, and fell below .500 with a swoon in early September, the temptation to write Pittsburgh off for the remainder of 2016 seemed somewhat logical. A season-ending injury to ace Gerrit Cole, along with trades of Francisco Liriano, Ivan Nova and closer Mark Melancon also helped to fuel the fire that the Bucs were finished.
But with just less than two weeks left in the season, a look at the standings shows that the Pirates aren’t fully out of it yet — and their players aren’t giving up. Pittsburgh sits five games out of the second NL Wild Card after going 5-3 this past week. But with Cole shelved and Liriano and Nova gone, Pittsburgh has had to find new ways to get quality starting pitching, with mixed results. Bucs starters averaged just 4 1/3 innings per start last week, meaning the bullpen had to take on the majority of the work to lift the Pirates to their winning week.
At a time where every inning and every pitch matters, Pittsburgh’s relievers proved up to the task. Not only did their collective performance keep the Bucs afloat — it also was enough to earn them the Bullpen of the Week Award presented by The Hartford.
BULLPEN OF THE WEEK WINNERS Week Team April 3-10 A’s April 11-17 Twins April 18-24 Nationals April 25-May 1 Phillies May 2-8 Angels May 9-15 Yankees May 16-22 Cubs May 23-29 Astros May 30-June 5 Dodgers June 6-12 Yankees June 13-19 Marlins June 20-26 Tigers June 27-July 3 Pirates July 4-10 Dodgers July 18-24 Yankees July 25-31 Brewers Aug. 1-7 Blue Jays Aug. 8-14 Mariners Aug. 15-21 Royals Aug. 22-28 Pirates Aug. 29-Sept. 4 Cubs Sept. 5-11 Astros Sept. 12-18 Pirates
As part of the MLB Prevailing Moments program, each Monday throughout the 2016 season, MLB.com is honoring the “Bullpen of the Week presented by The Hartford.” An industry-wide panel of MLB experts, including legendary stats guru Bill James, constructed a metric based on James’ widely renowned game-score formula, to provide a weekly measurement of team-bullpen performance.
Here’s how …
