The Battle of the LCS Bullpens

We have commented extensively on the great starting pitching in the postseason, but you can't look at great pitching performances without including the amazing job by the bullpens of these teams.

One of the things that we learned throughout this season is to never, ever question Red Sox manager John Farrell's judgment on how to use his pitchers.

Ever.

It may be easy to second-guess individual moments such as should Farrell have had someone warming up sooner last night as Jake Peavy struggled, but we have the ability to do it after the event has been completed. I have full faith and trust that Professor Farrell knows more about his pitchers than any, and all, of us.

I started referring to the Red Sox manager as "Professor Farrell" after listening to his weekly appearances with Jim Duquette and Mike Ferrin on MLB Network radio and realized I felt I was auditing a course on pitching and while we don't know if his team will make it to the finals, we certainly know that his lessons are being tested here in the LCS.

With these games being so tightly fought, the role of the bullpen is magnified and were it not for the skills of the pitchers in Boston's pen and the ability of Farrell to orchestrate their use, this ALCS could already be over and Detroit could be on its way to the World Series.

But the ALCS is tied and the Cardinals are leading 3-2, which is why we need to look at the numbers.

The call to the bullpen

2013 Overall Postseason Bullpen Performances by Team

	G	IP	IP/G	PA	AB	H	XBH	AVG	OBP	SLUG	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	SV	BS
1. Cleveland Indians	1	5.0	5.00	19	18	4	0	.222	.263	.222	0	7	0.00	0.800	0	0
2. Boston Red Sox	8	24.1	3.04	96	83	16	4	.193	.295	.277	10	22	0.74	1.068	3	0
3. St. Louis Cardinals	9	28.0	3.11	101	90	17	6	.189	.250	.333	8	21	1.93	0.893	3	0
4. Pittsburgh Pirates	6	20.1	3.39	83	77	18	6	.234	.280	.390	5	13	2.66	1.131	1	1
5. Los Angeles Dodgers	9	28.1	3.15	126	104	23	4	.221	.341	.308	18	36	2.86	1.447	2	0
6. Oakland Athletics	5	14.0	2.80	57	51	9	3	.176	.263	.275	6	13	3.21	1.071	1	1
7. Tampa Bay Rays	5	19.0	3.80	83	67	16	0	.239	.366	.239	12	23	3.79	1.474	0	2
8. Cincinnati Reds	1	4.1	4.67	21	18	6	2	.333	.400	.556	2	2	3.86	1.714	0	0
9. Detroit Tigers	9	19.1	2.19	90	80	22	9	.275	.348	.425	8	29	4.58	1.525	3	1
10. Atlanta Braves	4	15.0	3.75	64	55	13	7	.236	.333	.491	7	15	4.80	1.333	1	1

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/17/2013

2013 LDS Bullpen Performances by Team

	G	IP	IP/G	PA	AB	H	XBH	AVG	OBP	SLUG	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	SV	BS
1. Los Angeles Dodgers	4	13.0	3.25	59	48	12	2	.250	.368	.354	9	20	3.46	1.615	1	0
2. Tampa Bay Rays	4	16.1	4.17	75	59	15	0	.254	.392	.254	12	19	4.32	1.620	0	2
3. Pittsburgh Pirates	5	18.1	3.67	75	69	16	4	.232	.284	.348	5	12	2.45	1.145	1	1
4. Oakland Athletics	5	14.0	2.80	57	51	9	3	.176	.263	.275	6	13	3.21	1.071	1	1
5. Detroit Tigers	5	11.1	2.33	55	46	12	4	.261	.370	.348	7	18	3.09	1.629	2	0
6. Boston Red Sox	4	11.0	2.75	41	38	7	2	.184	.244	.316	2	12	1.64	0.818	2	0
7. St. Louis Cardinals	4	11.0	2.75	42	36	7	2	.194	.262	.306	4	5	2.45	1.000	1	0
8. Atlanta Braves	4	15.0	3.75	64	55	13	7	.236	.333	.491	7	15	4.80	1.333	1	1

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/17/2013

2013 LCS Bullpen Performances by Team

	G	IP	IP/G	PA	AB	H	XBH	AVG	OBP	SLUG	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	SV	BS
1. St. Louis Cardinals	5	17.0	3.40	59	54	10	4	.185	.241	.352	4	16	1.59	0.824	2	0
2. Boston Red Sox	4	13.1	3.33	55	45	9	2	.200	.333	.244	8	10	0.00	1.275	1	0
3. Los Angeles Dodgers	5	15.1	3.07	67	56	11	2	.196	.318	.268	9	16	2.35	1.304	1	0
4. Detroit Tigers	4	8.0	2.00	35	34	10	5	.294	.314	.529	1	11	6.75	1.375	1	1

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/17/2013

Let's look at individual performers

Check out the relievers in these two LCS:

2013 LCS Relievers

	G	IP	PA	AB	H	XBH	HR	AVG	OBP	SLUG	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	SV	BS
1. Brandon Workman (BOS)	2	3.0	12	9	1	0	0	.111	.273	.111	2	2	0.00	1.000	0	0
2. Brian Wilson (LAD)	3	3.0	12	10	1	0	0	.100	.250	.100	2	4	0.00	1.000	0	0
3. Carlos Marmol (LAD)	1	1.1	6	5	0	0	0	.000	.167	.000	1	3	0.00	0.600	0	0
4. Carlos Martinez (STL)	3	3.1	11	10	1	1	0	.100	.182	.200	1	2	0.00	0.545	0	0
5. Craig Breslow (BOS)	2	1.1	10	6	1	1	0	.167	.500	.333	4	1	0.00	3.000	0	0
6. Felix Doubront (BOS)	2	2.0	10	7	1	0	0	.143	.400	.143	2	1	0.00	1.286	0	0
7. Franklin Morales (BOS)	1	1.0	4	4	1	0	0	.250	.250	.250	0	0	0.00	1.000	0	0
8. Junichi Tazawa (BOS)	2	1.0	4	4	1	0	0	.250	.250	.250	0	1	0.00	1.000	0	0
9. Koji Uehara (BOS)	3	3.0	12	12	3	1	0	.250	.250	.333	0	5	0.00	0.900	1	0
10. Lance Lynn (STL)	1	2.0	7	5	1	0	0	.200	.333	.200	1	1	0.00	1.000	0	0
11. Randy Choate (STL)	4	2.0	6	6	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	1	0.00	0.000	0	0
12. Ronald Belisario (LAD)	3	2.0	9	8	1	0	0	.125	.222	.125	0	1	0.00	0.429	0	0
13. Ryan Dempster (BOS)	1	1.0	3	3	1	0	0	.333	.333	.333	0	0	0.00	1.000	0	0
14. Seth Maness (STL)	3	1.1	5	5	2	0	0	.400	.400	.400	0	1	0.00	1.500	0	0
15. Trevor Rosenthal (STL)	3	4.0	13	12	2	1	0	.167	.231	.333	1	6	0.00	0.750	2	0
16. Chris Withrow (LAD)	2	3.0	15	10	1	0	0	.100	.357	.100	4	2	2.70	1.500	0	0
17. J. P. Howell (LAD)	3	3.0	14	12	3	1	1	.250	.357	.500	2	3	3.00	1.667	0	0
18. Al Alburquerque (DET)	4	2.0	8	8	2	1	0	.250	.250	.375	0	3	4.50	1.000	0	0
19. Drew Smyly (DET)	3	2.0	7	6	0	0	0	.000	.143	.000	1	1	4.50	0.500	0	0
20. John Axford (STL)	2	2.0	9	8	2	1	1	.250	.333	.625	1	4	4.50	1.500	0	0
21. Jose Veras (DET)	3	1.1	5	5	1	1	0	.200	.200	.400	0	3	6.75	0.750	0	0
22. Joaquin Benoit (DET)	3	2.0	11	11	4	3	1	.364	.364	.909	0	4	7.71	1.714	1	1
23. Edward Mujica (STL)	1	1.0	4	4	1	1	1	.250	.250	1.000	0	0	9.00	1.000	0	0
24. Kenley Jansen (LAD)	3	2.0	11	11	5	1	0	.455	.455	.545	0	3	9.00	2.500	1	0
25. Kevin Siegrist (STL)	3	1.0	4	4	1	0	0	.250	.250	.250	0	1	9.00	1.000	0	0
26. Phil Coke (DET)	2	0.1	2	2	1	0	0	.500	.500	.500	0	0	27.00	3.000	0	0

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/17/2013

Prepare to blown away by Koji Uehara's numbers:

2013 LCS Relievers

	G	IP	PA	P	P/PA	Strk#	Ball#	Swng#	Miss#	ClStk#	Foul#	Chas#	Strk%
1. Brandon Workman (BOS)	2	3.0	12	41	3.42	24	17	15	3	9	4	6	58.5%
2. Brian Wilson (LAD)	3	3.0	12	53	4.42	30	23	16	3	14	7	5	56.6%
3. Carlos Marmol (LAD)	1	1.1	6	26	4.33	14	12	8	2	6	4	2	53.8%
4. Carlos Martinez (STL)	3	3.1	11	35	3.18	22	13	16	6	6	2	5	62.9%
5. Craig Breslow (BOS)	2	1.1	10	41	4.10	18	23	11	0	7	6	6	43.9%
6. Felix Doubront (BOS)	2	2.0	10	44	4.40	24	20	14	2	10	6	2	54.5%
7. Franklin Morales (BOS)	1	1.0	4	15	3.75	11	4	8	1	3	3	2	73.3%
8. Junichi Tazawa (BOS)	2	1.0	4	16	4.00	11	5	10	4	1	3	3	68.8%
9. Koji Uehara (BOS)	3	3.0	12	41	3.42	34	7	28	13	6	8	14	82.9%
10. Lance Lynn (STL)	1	2.0	7	29	4.14	14	15	12	3	2	4	4	48.3%
11. Randy Choate (STL)	4	2.0	6	18	3.00	12	6	8	1	4	2	3	66.7%
12. Ronald Belisario (LAD)	3	2.0	9	24	2.67	13	11	10	3	3	0	2	54.2%
13. Ryan Dempster (BOS)	1	1.0	3	8	2.67	6	2	3	0	3	0	1	75.0%
14. Seth Maness (STL)	3	1.1	5	24	4.80	14	10	11	2	3	5	4	58.3%
15. Trevor Rosenthal (STL)	3	4.0	13	60	4.62	35	25	26	11	9	9	6	58.3%
16. Chris Withrow (LAD)	2	3.0	15	69	4.60	36	33	25	10	11	6	6	52.2%
17. J. P. Howell (LAD)	3	3.0	14	61	4.36	32	29	24	8	8	7	8	52.5%
18. Al Alburquerque (DET)	4	2.0	8	33	4.13	24	9	12	4	12	3	3	72.7%
19. Drew Smyly (DET)	3	2.0	7	31	4.43	18	13	13	2	5	6	4	58.1%
20. John Axford (STL)	2	2.0	9	36	4.00	23	13	14	5	9	5	3	63.9%
21. Jose Veras (DET)	3	1.1	5	13	2.60	11	2	7	5	4	0	3	84.6%
22. Joaquin Benoit (DET)	3	2.0	11	51	4.64	37	14	29	9	8	13	11	72.5%
23. Edward Mujica (STL)	1	1.0	4	14	3.50	10	4	8	1	2	3	1	71.4%
24. Kenley Jansen (LAD)	3	2.0	11	47	4.27	33	14	25	8	8	9	7	70.2%
25. Kevin Siegrist (STL)	3	1.0	4	18	4.50	12	6	10	2	2	5	0	66.7%
26. Phil Coke (DET)	2	0.1	2	5	2.50	4	1	3	1	1	0	1	80.0%

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/17/2013

Now you have some tools

Try to first-guess the managers.