Where Leads Go to Die: The Bullpen Problem
It's the bottom of the seventh—your team is up three runs, the starting pitcher just walked off the mound after delivering all night and everything seems under control. Your teams reliever comes jogging through the outfield ready to close out the game. Then it starts—two walks, a hanging slider that gets crushed and a reliever that just doesn't have it. Suddenly the lead is gone, the crowd is dead and a game that felt finished is somehow slipping away. If that sounds familiar, it's because it keeps happening. In the MLB today, no lead is safe anymore and the most important innings aren't the first six—they're the last nine outs. Games are no longer won by starters and offenses, they're decided by what happens after the sixth inning. The reality is, starters are pitching fewer innings than ever. No pitcher has thrown 250 innings in a season since Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers in 2011. Last season, only 21 pitchers threw 180 innings, and just Logan Web...
