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What effect will ’16 postseason have on bullpens?
- Updated: December 29, 2016
Last postseason saw some of the most aggressive bullpen use in recent memory, from Clayton Kershaw earning his first career save to Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller eating up middle innings throughout the World Series.
Such utilization isn’t novel; specialization can be abandoned when championships are on the line. But the radical shift in bullpen strategy from the regular season to postseason questions the realistic limit for relievers over the grind of potentially seven months.
“It’s something that I think we’ve seen kind of evolve over time, and when you have the pleasure of having multiple days off in a week and you get the rest that you need, it’s actually fun to be able to use those guys in that way,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said at the Winter Meetings. “But as far as a 162-game season goes … it would be nice to have that many options available to go off as what you use in the postseason, but it’s a hard model to sustain.”
MLB relievers have collectively eclipsed the 200-inning plateau in the postseason 13 times, all since 1999. And the ’16 regular season saw bullpens shatter the record for most usage ever at a whopping 15,893 2/3 innings, more than 600 frames higher than the previous mark.
Bullpens have burgeoned into arguably the game’s most valuable asset. Shutdown relievers were a key catalyst in the Cubs’ run last year, and were the blueprint to the Royals’ success in ’14. And the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing. This winter has seen record contracts for top closers — Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon, who each pitched last postseason — for a combined reported $228 million.
Having an arsenal of arms in October is a luxury, but being in position to utilize your best relievers at full strength that late requires meticulous commitment to conditioning throughout the 162-game …
