Battle of the Bullpens (Extra Point's 1,000 Post!)

The World Series may come down to who can win in the late innings.

By Russ Reed

I don’t think anyone saw this type of season coming for Koji Uehara, including the man himself.  The 38-year-old Japanese closer had an incredible season for the Boston Red Sox, displaying incredible control and pitch-sequencing to make up for his lack of an electric fastball.  Uehara walked only nine batters in 74.1 innings pitched in the regular season, a remarkable achievement.

AP Photo

In addition, Uehara has performed slightly better in the postseason, as hard as that seems.  After posting a 1.09 ERA and a 0.57 WHIP during the regular season, he bettered each mark thus far in October with a 1.00 ERA and a 0.56 WHIP.  Uehara went on to win MVP of the ALCS, recording three saves, a win, and nine strikeouts.  His only blemish of the postseason came on a walk-off, solo-home run from Tampa Bay’s Jose Lobaton in Game 3 of the ALDS.

However, the entire Red Sox bullpen has picked it up since the start of the postseason.  The Boston bullpen, made up of seven pitchers including Uehara, have combined for a 0.84 ERA, 28 strikeouts and a .209 batting average against in 32 innings of relief this postseason.

The Red Sox hit only .202 as a team in the ALCS, and if the struggles continue, it will put a lot of pressure on the bullpen to keep up the stellar work in the World Series.  In addition, the return of Allen Craig for St. Louis will add more fuel to the fire.  Sources say Craig will be used in a DH role in games at Boston and will most likely come off the bench in home games.  If that’s the case, there will be a lot of pressure on Red Sox relievers on the road in the late innings of close games.

On a similar note, the Cardinals’ bullpen could also have a big impact on who ends up winning the title.  In the ALCS, the Red Sox struggled mightily against Tigers starters.  But Boston did end up scoring 11 of its 19 runs off of Detroit’s bullpen.

And as good as Detroit’s starting rotation was, St. Louis is as good, and might be better.  The Cardinals have a proven postseason starter in Adam Wainwright, and NLCS MVP Michael Wacha has done an incredible job.  The rookie right-hander has gone 3-0 in 21 innings pitched with 22 strikeouts and a 0.43 ERA.

Given this, the Red Sox could easily struggle once again with starting pitching and might have to rely on roughing up the Cardinals bullpen to win games.  Yet, that might not be so easy, as high-velocity arms in the St. Louis bullpen has posted a combined 1.80 ERA in 30 innings of work and held opponents to a .177 batting average in the postseason. 

The five highest-octane arms have an average fastball velocity ranging from 90.4 to 97.6 mph.  Both rookie closer Trevor Rosenthal and setup man Carlos Martinez can touch triple-digits, and have a bunch of capable situational relievers as well, including lefties Kevin Siegrist and Randy Choate.

This may turn out to be a battle of the bullpens, but whatever the case may be, I cannot wait for Wednesday night and the start of what I anticipate to be a very competitive World Series.