Playoff pitching staff

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Who starts the Wild Card game? Suter as the opener?

 

Good call. The Reds are inevitable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[monty57]

So the discussion is whether or not you have 4 starters or 3. Um, if we put Houser and Lauer(Dodgers slayer) in the bullpen they are available to be used as a Starter. Theres gotta be at least 1 if not 2 starts by the big 3 going 7innings or more. Which you'd turn over to Williams and Hader to complete. I'd really hate for CC to pull the top 3 after 5IP just so he can pitch everybody possible every 2 games getting them an inning. Definitely could see a bullpen game featuring Houser, Lauer and Anderson before you turn to your Williams-Hader finish. I think when you reach game 4s you have an idea the importance of the game. Up 3-0 or 2-1 you dont have to lean on Burnes or Woody and trust the quality of the other guys capable to get it done.

 

7+ inning games:

 

-Woodruff has 8, but only one since June.

-Peralta has 4, but none since June.

-Burnes has 5, most of them in the July/August.

 

Out of 68 combined games, they have went 7+ in about 25% of them. If one of the "Big 3" is pitching well, keep him in there, but we can certainly win with them only going 5-6 innings. We've done it all year, and not that there's a correlation, but the team's winning percentage went up while Woodruff and Peralta went less deep into games.

 

But to your point, Counsell is not going to pull them "just so he can pitch everyone possible." With at least two of Houser, Lauer, and Anderson going to the pen for the playoffs, he will have a strong bullpen, and I trust him to use it wisely.

 

It would be great if they can get a day's rest because the starter goes deep into the game, but that's not really the Brewers main focus under Stearns/Counsell. They seem to prefer to pitch starters while they're strong, but give them a pretty quick hook after they've been through the lineup a couple times and show that they are starting to tire, relying on a strong bullpen to finish things out.

 

I also wouldn't consider it a "bullpen game" if they decide to start Houser, Anderson, or Lauer in game four. Each of them have been above average starting pitchers this season. We're a bit spoiled by how good our top three have been, but there is a good argument to be made that any of the "bottom three" pitching on full rest would be a better option than one of the "Big 3" pitching on short rest after a season in which they have become accustomed to extended rest between starts.

[Underachiever]

Who starts the Wild Card game? Suter as the opener?

 

Good call. The Reds are inevitable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forget the Reds. I'm just hoping they can hold off the Cardinals.

[KeithStone53151]

Adding to monty's point a bit. Since the allstar break, let's split our 6 starters into the Big 3 and the Bottom 3. The Big 3 have ERA of 1.60, 2.70, and 3.94 over a combined 17 starts. The bottom 3 have ERA of 2.18, 2.95, and 3.86 over a combined 14 starts and 2 relief apperances. All the Bottom 3 are only averaging 4-5 innings per start at this point. And frankly that's fine, use 2 in game 4 to hopefully eat most innings and you're good. You could even use one in game 1 for a couple innings and have them ready again in game 4.

 

And just a reminder that there are the built in rest days. We can more or less plan on Williams/Hader each pitching an inning every game if needed. This also might be the time where CC uses Hader for multiple innings to close out a game or series if the situation calls for it.

 

This roster is frankly loaded and ready for a playoff run, this is the best roster I've seen from the Brewers pretty much ever considering all facets of the game.

[AJOHNSON104]

I think they'll use Anderson as a 4th starter (for 4-5 innings).

[thebruce44]

A couple of points to add to the discussion.

 

I think we are going to see some dead arm hit much of our staff in the next month of the season. I think this leads to us continuing to get guys as much rest as possible between starts including into the playoffs. You stick with the guys who got you this far, but it wouldn't surprise me to see some uninspiring numbers from Burnes and Freddy (Woodruff to a lesser extent) the rest of the way.

 

I think Ashby factors in somehow down the stretch and in the playoffs. I would love to see him limited to late high leverage single innings to come in and throw gas. Let him know this is his role and hope he excels for the rest of the way.

[KeithStone53151]

but it wouldn't surprise me to see some uninspiring numbers from Burnes and Freddy (Woodruff to a lesser extent) the rest of the way.

 

The numbers I referenced above, it was Woodruff with the upper 3's ERA out of the Big 3 since the all star break. Maybe dead arm has been impacting him already?

[brewcrewdue80]

So the discussion is whether or not you have 4 starters or 3. Um, if we put Houser and Lauer(Dodgers slayer) in the bullpen they are available to be used as a Starter. Theres gotta be at least 1 if not 2 starts by the big 3 going 7innings or more. Which you'd turn over to Williams and Hader to complete. I'd really hate for CC to pull the top 3 after 5IP just so he can pitch everybody possible every 2 games getting them an inning. Definitely could see a bullpen game featuring Houser, Lauer and Anderson before you turn to your Williams-Hader finish. I think when you reach game 4s you have an idea the importance of the game. Up 3-0 or 2-1 you dont have to lean on Burnes or Woody and trust the quality of the other guys capable to get it done.

 

7+ inning games:

 

-Woodruff has 8, but only one since June.

-Peralta has 4, but none since June.

-Burnes has 5, most of them in the July/August.

 

Out of 68 combined games, they have went 7+ in about 25% of them. If one of the "Big 3" is pitching well, keep him in there, but we can certainly win with them only going 5-6 innings. We've done it all year, and not that there's a correlation, but the team's winning percentage went up while Woodruff and Peralta went less deep into games.

 

But to your point, Counsell is not going to pull them "just so he can pitch everyone possible." With at least two of Houser, Lauer, and Anderson going to the pen for the playoffs, he will have a strong bullpen, and I trust him to use it wisely.

 

It would be great if they can get a day's rest because the starter goes deep into the game, but that's not really the Brewers main focus under Stearns/Counsell. They seem to prefer to pitch starters while they're strong, but give them a pretty quick hook after they've been through the lineup a couple times and show that they are starting to tire, relying on a strong bullpen to finish things out.

 

I also wouldn't consider it a "bullpen game" if they decide to start Houser, Anderson, or Lauer in game four. Each of them have been above average starting pitchers this season. We're a bit spoiled by how good our top three have been, but there is a good argument to be made that any of the "bottom three" pitching on full rest would be a better option than one of the "Big 3" pitching on short rest after a season in which they have become accustomed to extended rest between starts.

 

 

I mean game 4 as bullpen game in that Houser/Lauer pitch through the order once maybe 12 batters. And not through a batting order a full 2 times.

[KeithStone53151]

One other caveat I'll add for discussion, CC probably doesn't really need to plan for a potential 14+ inning game. Playoff games tend to be a bit more low scoring, and previously you'd want to keep a 5th starter type to take over if a game got to the 11th or 12th inning just to cover the innings. With the runner on 2nd rule, that contingency pitcher is much less likely to be needed. That could generally mean that one of the other 3 starting pitchers gets left off the playoff roster(I suspect Anderson).

[BruisedCrew]

One other caveat I'll add for discussion, CC probably doesn't really need to plan for a potential 14+ inning game. Playoff games tend to be a bit more low scoring, and previously you'd want to keep a 5th starter type to take over if a game got to the 11th or 12th inning just to cover the innings. With the runner on 2nd rule, that contingency pitcher is much less likely to be needed. That could generally mean that one of the other 3 starting pitchers gets left off the playoff roster(I suspect Anderson).

 

Is the runner on second in extra innings rule going to be part of the postseason this year? I thought that was just a regular season thing.

[Outlander]

Per MLB, the runner on second rule is not being done in the playoffs.

 

As part of MLB's health and safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, all half-innings after the ninth will begin with a runner on second base in the 2020 regular season. This rule will not be in place for the 2020 postseason or the 2021 campaign.

 

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/designated-runner

[KeithStone53151]

Per MLB, the runner on second rule is not being done in the playoffs.

 

As part of MLB's health and safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, all half-innings after the ninth will begin with a runner on second base in the 2020 regular season. This rule will not be in place for the 2020 postseason or the 2021 campaign.

 

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/designated-runner

 

Well the runner on second rule was brought back for the 2021 season obviously, but based on last year I would assume runner on second would not happen in the postseason. So nevermind on my previous comment...