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Bullpen Game 5 Magic vs. Mets in NLCS?

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Bullpen Game 5 Magic vs. Mets in NLCS?

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LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers know it's unconventional.

It can look a bit ridiculous at times.

A team with a $300 million-plus payroll that lost $1.4 billion in free agents last winter shouldn't have to rely on bullpen games to keep its season alive.

Yet here they are for the third time this postseason, using a bullpen game in Game 6 against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night.

Ryan Brasier, who last threw two innings in a game on August 23, 2023, is expected to start again.

They will then turn to six, maybe seven other helpers to get the job done.

It worked beautifully in the NL Division Series against the San Diego Padres, with an 8-0 win in Game 4.

The second game of the National League Championship Series was spectacular and the team lost 7-3.

They are now looking for the bullpen arms to lead them to their fourth World Series in eight years.

The Dodgers, who have a three-game lead in this best-of-seven series, are confident things will work out. Unlike the Mets, who used their top two relievers – Ryne Stanek and Edwin Diaz – to secure the final 13 outs in their 12-6 win in Game 5, none of their high-leverage relievers have had one since Game 4 pitched.

“It's an all-hands-on-deck situation,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “and that's how I'm going to look at it. And you can only push each player so far with the pen. So it's kind of fair.” Depending on where they're at as far as the type of hitter, the number of pitches and all that…

“I feel like as we're still focused on Game 6, whatever it takes, we're very well equipped to prevent runs for potentially two games.”

The Mets desperately need their star, Sean Manaea, to go deep in the game to force a Game 7, knowing they can't go mano for mano with the Dodgers' vaunted bullpen.

“I’m just giving it everything I’ve got,” Manaea said. “Hopefully I can get deep into the game. For me personally, that is always the goal. I'm not trying to change anything or do more. Whatever I can give, that's what I can do.

If there is a Game 7, the Dodgers will take the traditional approach with starter Walker Buehler, who threw four shutout innings in Game 3 – and whose performance was celebrated as if he were Bob Gibson or Jack Morris.

There hasn't been a single complete game this postseason. Only Corbin Burnes of the Baltimore Orioles threw a pitch in the eighth inning. Seven pitchers completed seven innings. And 12 starters lasted two or fewer innings.

It's become such a bizarre bullpen world that relievers have thrown more innings (312) than starters (303 ⅓) this postseason.

“That’s where we’re at in the game now with analytics and stuff,” Mets All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso said. “The game is just different. It has a completely different perspective. Now everyone wants to throw their best stuff all the time.” . There is no taking off a pitch, full baseball and maximum effort on every pitch.

If it didn't work, teams wouldn't continue doing it. The Dodgers' bullpen recorded 28 outs in Games 3 and 4 of the NLCS and didn't give up a single run.

“I've always felt like a bullpen game provides a really good chance to prevent runs,” Roberts said.

Of course it can backfire. According to the New York Post, there were 15 failed saves this postseason, the most outside of the 2020 Covid year in baseball history. Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, the best reliever in baseball, gave up just five earned runs and two home runs in 74 ⅓ innings with a 0.64 ERA during the regular season. This postseason, he had given up eight earned runs and three home runs in seven innings Saturday.

The Mets are maxing out their bullpen and praying the heavy workload doesn't lead to a collapse. Stanek pitched a career-high 2 ⅓ innings and Diaz pitched two innings in Game 5, with Mets manager Carlos Mendoza not trusting anyone to protect a five-run lead.

“I think the one thing we've seen this year is guys getting tired,” Mendoza said. “So it’s important to start pitching. You need people to give you length. It's hard to ask guys every day for 15, 16 outs. And that's the importance of starting pitching.

“Many different teams are built in many different ways. We have some appetizers. But then there are teams out there that have some elite bullpen arms.”

Roberts has managed his bullpen wisely, using his high-leverage arms only at critical moments and letting other relievers eat up innings when the team is down.

“We have potentially two games here,” Roberts said, “and I think we are in a very good position to prevent runs. I don't think we exposed our heavily indebted boys at all. And that's part of the learning curve for me throughout the story.

If the Dodgers win Game 6, they can advance to the World Series, which would begin Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Starters Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler are all rested. Your bullpen will have four complete days off. They will have All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman, who is 1-for-15 without an extra-base hit this postseason, receiving four more days of treatment for his sprained ankle.

At some point, could the bullpen actually decide a game in late innings? Three games were decided by eight or more runs, four games were decided by at least six runs, and no team had a lead of less than four runs before the ninth.

The only time a postseason series had six games decided by four or more runs, according to the Athletic, was the 1965 World Series between the Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins, with an average winning margin of seven runs.

“That’s one of the things I learned about postseason baseball,” Dodgers reliever Brent Honeywell said. “When you have the lead, you don’t want to give it up. You'll do everything you can to keep them, and you'll quickly find out who's ready to step up in the postseason.”

For that reason, Roberts won't hesitate to use his high-impact relievers early in the game, with part-time closer Michael Kopech starting in the third through eighth innings in postseason games so far.

“I think all baseball managers are more aggressive when they get a lead and rely on those (tough) guys,” Roberts said. “It’s just hard to get back into a game or keep going. When you hit other people.’ I think it exposes other teams’ pens and I think we did a really good job.”

If Roberts had his druthers, he would certainly have a Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin and/or Gavin Stone in the mix with Yamamoto, Flaherty and Buehler.

“I would like to have John Smoltz or Greg Maddux pitch seven shutouts (innings),” Roberts said, “or throw a one-hitter or two-hitter in a World Series game. That would be great.”

Instead, it's about mixing and matching, strategizing and praying that you have the right matchups.

That’s the nature of the postseason beast in 2024.

“That’s just the current state of the game,” said Alonso. “What are you going to do?”

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