For MLB Teams Chasing October Glory, Building a Bullpen Is a Vital — and Confounding — Exercise

For a World Series that was supposed to feature an epic battle between sluggers Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, guys like Mark Leiter Jr., Luke Weaver, Alex Vesia and Anthony Banda sure got a lot of face time.

This year's Fall Classic provided further proof that a great bullpen is essential in baseball, particularly in the postseason.

It also has led to concerns from people ranging from superagent Scott Boras to players' association head Tony Clark that the sport is abusing arms.

Regardless, building a quality bullpen remains a challenge. 토토사이트 추천

“You need so many arms over the course of the season, and in the postseason, it’s even more magnified,” Los Angeles Angels general manager Perry Minasian said.

“Quality arms, quality strikes. But quantity is a big deal, too. Where do you get it?”

The bullpen is usually an afterthought for casual baseball fans, particularly middle relievers, who don't get the spotlight of the ninth inning.

They toil in relative anonymity while getting tough outs in tough situations and are much like NFL offensive linemen noticed only when something goes terribly wrong.

The Dodgers used Vesia, Banda and Michael Kopech in four out of the five games of the World Series while Blake Treinen and Brusdar Graterol appeared in three games.

They combined to throw 15 1/3 innings often in high-leverage situations and gave up five runs.

That's a 2.93 ERA.

For a bunch of guys only serious seamheads know, that's not too shabby.

“I have a lot of good players, and they understand that it’s about getting 27 outs a night,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

“It could be anyone at any given moment.”

Building a big league bullpen is intriguing because cost isn't really the prohibitive factor, making it arguably the most egalitarian position in a sport that doesn't have a salary cap.

Banda ($740,000), Vesia ($1 million), Treinen ($1 million), Kopech ($3 million) and Graterol ($2.7 million) made pocket change compared with their teammate Ohtani, who signed a record $700 million, 10-year deal last offseason.

Instead, it comes down to scouting, development and sometimes dumb luck.

It's sometimes more art than science.