It took the MLB about eight months, but in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series, A.J. Hinch and the Astros got it right.
In what was a thrilling series between the Astros and Dodgers, it all came down to Game 7, Darvish vs. McCullers Jr. As the late-arriving crowd at Dodger’s stadium continued to file into their seats, their first glance at the scoreboard was not pretty. It was already the top of the 2nd inning, 5-0 Houston. As everyone knows by now, the Astros held on, and defeated the Dodgers 5-1 to capture their first World Series title in franchise history.
The bats of Alex Bregman, George Springer and José Altuve stole the headlines for the Astros this series, but the real hero was 33-year old right-handed pitcher Charlie Morton.
In the biggest moment of the MLB journeyman’s 9-year career, Morton delivered the knock-out punch, pitching 4 innings of 1-run relief. And when Morton let up the bottom of the 6th single to Andre Ethier to score the Dodgers’ first run of the game, it didn’t matter to A.J. Hinch. He continued to ride the hot hand on the mound, something managers across Major League Baseball have forgotten to do. Baseball has become obsessed with specialization and their bullpens and it took one manager to finally break the pattern in Game 7, and he’s now still picking confetti out of his hair after the World Series Parade.
Bullpen reliance is as popular as ever in baseball. And with more and more pitchers able to sit batters down 1-2-3 with blazing fastballs, why wouldn’t you go to them? But just ask the Dodgers, whose heavy reliance on the bullpen allowed Kenley Jansen and Brandon Morrow to become mortal, allowing the Astros bats to come alive. A heavy dependence on bullpens has been on the rise since 2011, but heading into the 2018 season, it’s worth re-evaluating and tweaking.
At the end of the day, when starting pitchers are getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars, shouldn’t they at least guarantee you 6 or 7 innings? But the managers aren’t allowing them to do so, and its frustrating some of the league’s best.
Cubs’ ace Jon Lester voiced his opinion on bullpen use in a recent interview with Tiki and Tierney on CBS Sports Radio. Lester begins his answer by saying,
“I hate it, I absolutely hate it.”
He goes on to say,
“…But I just feel like when you ask your bullpen to get 9, 12, 15 outs, there’s a lot of things that can happen and you went from a 3-1 game to a 7-6 game. I feel like that’s what happens when you do that. It puts a lot of stress on your bullpen…”
If there is anything you can take away from his thoughts it should be one word, STRESS. By the end of the World Series, relievers on both sides had nothing left, they were simply burned out. Just look at the 13-12 slug-fest that was Game 5, seeing both bullpens let up a combined 15 runs. 15 runs should be scored across at least two or three games, not 4 or 5 innings!
Like we saw with Joe Maddon last year, Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts seemed to have an unhealthy reliance on his bullpen, and he wasn’t going to allow a hot-handed starter to derail his plan. But because of his over-use and pre-game plan of not allowing his starters to go deep into the game, it spelled doom for the Dodgers when it mattered most.
The first example of this was Game 2 of the NLCS between the Dodgers and the Cubs. Chicago fan-favorite and now enemy Rich Hill was on the mound. Now if Mike Mussina of the Yankees was the ‘almost’ pitcher, Hill is getting close by being pulled during a no-hitter, and losing a no-hitter in the 10th inning in his career. Hill saw himself throwing another cup of Powerade at the bench after Roberts pulled him after 5 innings of work allowing just 1 run. Roberts then went to Morrow, Fields Jr., Watson and Jansen to secure the 4-1 win. But wouldn’t Rich Hill, a pitcher who is trusted in a pivotal Game 2 of the NLCS and subsequent Game 2 of the World Series be able to get you through six or seven innings and save your bullpen? And wouldn’t a good outing by Hill give you a day to rest your bullpen for when you really need them? Dave Roberts says no.
Roberts continued to ride his bullpen during the World Series, relying on the arm of Anthony Morrow for EVERY game in the Fall Classic, and again pulled Rich Hill quickly, after 4 innings of 3-hit ball, to start the bullpen parade of 8 relievers in a 7-6 loss in Game 2. These two examples show the clear trend that managers like Joe Maddon and Dave Roberts are subscribing to when it comes to managing their bullpens. And while A.J. Hinch played it right in Game 7, he’s not off the hook either for his bullpen management throughout the playoffs.
But when it came down to Game 7, and Hinch had already pulled Lance McCullers Jr. after just 2 innings of work, and toyed with a new-age bullpen strategy after plugging in Peacock, Liriano and Devenski, he knew what he had to do when Charlie Morton stepped onto the mound with his best stuff.
Dodger after Dodger left the batter’s box fooled and even if the left-handed hitting Corey Bellinger, Corey Seager or Joc Pederson came up to the plate, Hinch stood by Morton, and he shut them all down. No call to the bullpen was made to get a lefty-lefty match up, it was Morton’s game to win, just like it should’ve been.
Maybe A.J. Hinch read Tracy Ringosbly’s article last January reminding everyone that even after the bullpen-focused Cubs vs. Indians World Series, a durable rotation is still essential. And while Morton, a starter, did come out of the bullpen in Game 7, his ‘relief stint’ was treated as if he were a starter, pitching multiple innings of great baseball. And A.J. Hinch might have had a reminder from what happened last time he tinkered too much after putting in Morton. Morton left with a 1-0 Houston lead in Game 4, only to see ‘closer’ Ken Giles let up 3 runs, and Joe Musgrove let up 2 more in a 6-2 loss to L.A.
More managers needs to take a page out of Hinch’s book, as he went against modern baseball standards and rode Charlie Morton all the way to a World Series Title. While bullpen specialist relievers will still remain the trend in baseball, if they continue to become ineffective due to overuse in the most important moments of the season, maybe Managers across the league will wake up. They will roll out of bed, put two feet on the floor and remember that it is alright for a starting pitcher or in Morton’s case, ‘long reliever’ to go six or seven innings. Remember, it’s ok to ride the hot hand.
