As noted by Dan Szymborski in his ALCS preview, ZiPS projected the Gerrit Cole vs. Tanner Bibee matchup in Game 2 at Yankee Stadium as the most one-sided battle in the series. The Yankees, with their superior roster and home field advantage, seemed to have the upper hand. However, the Guardians were hopeful with Bibee…
NEW YORK — The Yankees’ road to an AL-best 94 wins wasn’t the smoothest ride. They overcame significant injuries, and at times dealt with a lack of production from just about everybody besides Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. Even as they fought off the Orioles for the AL East flag, they struggled to find the…
(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) After an extensive 162-game regular season, the Major League Baseball postseason is well underway. With the regular season being so long, strategy changes as teams enter the playoff atmosphere where every game counts. A somewhat new strategy includes teams going with all bullpen pitchers for a game instead of…
David Reginek-Imagn Images If you’re into relief pitching and pinch-hitting, boy was Game 3 of the ALDS between the Cleveland Guardians and the Detroit Tigers the game for you. On the surface, it was fairly straightforward, a low-scoring affair that featured good pitching and a couple of timely hits. But look beneath the surface and…
Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images Three of the best handful of hitters on the planet were on the same field at Yankee Stadium yesterday, and the Phillies/Mets rivalry is as venomous as any in baseball, but take a straw poll of the real sickos and they’ll tell you the marquee Division Series tilt is the one between…
Thomas Shea-Imagn Images The Detroit Tigers continue to ride their wave of jubilation into October. The most surprising playoff team beat the Houston Astros 5–2 in Game 2 of the best-of-three Wild Card round on Wednesday to advance to the American League Division Series. Manager A.J. Hinch successfully navigated a bullpen game that included only…
Relief pitching is hard work. More than that, it’s work whose difficulty builds on itself. If you’re covering a single inning in a single game, you can use your best reliever. Second inning? You’ll need your second-best guy, and so on. Second day in a row? Now your best relievers are tired. Third day in…
The Brewers always seem to have a good bullpen. They have an anchor at the top – either Josh Hader or Devin Williams – and a smattering of other arms behind them that complement what the team is doing. Historically, they’ve used those bullpen arms to back up the weaker members of their rotation as…
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) You can’t be a great baseball team without a great bullpen, and while there may not be quite as many big-name closers as there used to be and seemingly every team has multiple guys they can call upon to come in and throw 100 mph, there are still teams that…
