Ausmus views playoff bullpens as anomaly

DETROIT — Like many managers, Brad Ausmus doesn’t expect the heavy bullpen usage that transpired during the postseason to become a regular-season trend. With too many games and too few off-days, the Tigers’ skipper believes relievers — even great ones like Andrew Miller — would break down.

“I don’t know that you could throw that many innings on a regular basis,” Ausmus said during the Winter Meetings earlier this month. “The playoffs are going to change the way a bullpen is used, even the way starters are used. Starters are often taken out earlier as a result, if you have a stronger bullpen. Just doesn’t happen in a regular season because you [would] get to August and the bullpen would be shot.”

Detroit has long been a club that leveraged its starting rotation to pitch deep into games. It was a dominant strength during the Tigers’ run of American League Central titles, thanks to a rotation that included Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez and Rick Porcello. By the end, the Tigers went into the 2014 AL Division Series with three former Cy Young Award winners in Verlander, Scherzer and David Price.

The downfall in 2013 and ’14 was the bullpen, not just the relative weakness of their own, but the strength of the opposition. In ’14, Orioles starters completed six innings only once in their best-of-five AL Division Series, but swept the Tigers in three games with a ‘pen that included Miller, who pitched …

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