MLB Bullpen Red Flags
Bullpen Red Flags, TOR's Pen Is Running on Fumes
Published
Relief pitching is a budget, and some teams have been spending like the bill never comes. From the last three days of captured box scores, here is the relief workload around the league, starters excluded.
Running on fumes
TOR top the board with 15 relief appearances in three games, about 5.0 arms out of the pen a night. A manager can live like that for a weekend; over a longer stretch, it is usually the late innings that pay the bill.
Close behind, ATH have called down 14 times in 3 games.
PHI (13 outings in 3 games) are not far off that pace either.
Fresh and waiting
PIT have barely touched the phone: four reliever outings over two games, leaving the whole late-inning menu available.
The same goes for NYM, who have needed only 4 relief calls in 3 games.
The spread between the busiest pen and the freshest one is eleven appearances over the same window, that is the difference between a full late-inning menu and a manager crossing his fingers at the mound.
At a glance
Every pen in the sample, most-taxed first:
| Team | Relief outings | Games |
|---|---|---|
| TOR | 15 | 3 |
| ATH | 14 | 3 |
| PHI | 13 | 3 |
| CIN | 13 | 3 |
| STL | 13 | 3 |
Worth remembering
The tally counts appearances, not innings: each reliever who entered a captured game adds one to his team's total. Crude on purpose, and applied identically everywhere.
Usage is context, not destiny. But when the late innings arrive, yesterday's workload is very real, and it does not care about the matchup.
Next up on the slate: Toronto Blue Jays against Detroit Tigers. Check back after that one goes final.