The Red Sox won the World Series without a super bullpen

Before the July 31st trade deadline, the need for the Red Sox if they were going to truly compete in October was a reliever. When they didn’t get another one, and the bullpen struggled in August, the assumption was that Dave Dombrowski’s inaction would cost the Red Sox in the end.

Technically, the Red Sox did get themselves a reliever for October during the trade deadline, by acquiring starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi. But that’s only because manager Alex Cora took a page out of the 2017 Astros’ playbook -- the team he was bench coach for last year when they won the World Series despite having an awful bullpen.

Since the Royals’ super bullpen won them the World Series in 2015 despite a rotation most fans can’t remember the members of and a lineup that produced a whole bunch of singles (this is all said with love, Kansas City, that team was its own kind of terrifying), MLB teams have focused on replicating the strategy. Dominant bullpens that shorter games by allowing teams to take out the starter as early as possible became the norm, and that was once again the case in 2018: as Emma Baccellieri pointed out earlier in the World Series, the starter innings vs. bullpen innings pools were split down the middle.

The Red Sox weren’t shy about pulling their starters, either, but they didn’t have a super bullpen. They had Matt Barnes, who struck out nearly 100 batters this year but no one would confuse for dominant. He’s a good, sometimes great reliever, a lot like Joe Kelly, who spent a month tipping his pitches in the regular season, ruining his ERA and any pre-October proof he was dependable. Ryan Brasier was a complete unknown to everyone but Red Sox fans and the few Angels fans who remembered he existed: he was the third-most important reliever on the Red Sox heading into the postseason.

There was Craig Kimbrel, but, for Kimbrel, he was shaky, and would continue to be shaky in the postseason. This wasn’t the ideal bullpen for a World Series, but it also wasn’t all the Red Sox had.

Like with A.J. Hinch and the Astros the year before, Cora made up for any deficiencies his pen had by using his starting pitchers as relievers. Chris Sale made two appearances in relief, one in the ALDS and one to close out the World Series. Rick Porcello started three games in the postseason, and relieved in two others. Eduardo Rodriguez was set to relief duty only until an 18-inning game made him the Game 4 starter: he threw a total of 10 innings over seven games this October. Nathan Eovaldi started an ALDS and an ALCS game, showed up in relief in Game 5 of the ALCS, then pitched in Game 1, Game 2, and Game 3 of the World Series, with the last of those featuring 97 pitches and six innings of that 18-inning game.

And, of course, David Price also pitched in relief in Game 3, after starting Game 2, then went on to win Game 5.

Now, don’t get me wrong: Brasier, Kelly, and Barnes were all vital to the Red Sox World Series victory. The Red Sox didn’t eschew using relievers to the degree the 2017 Astros did, and inarguably, had to. Still, though, it’s easy to see the Red Sox as more like last year’s Astros than like the Yankees or the Royals or the Indians of the recent past, and if they hadn’t committed to that Astros-esque plan, we might be having a different conversation about the World Series this morning.

It was a non-traditional approach, but then, so was the rise of the super bullpen full of super relievers in lieu of letting starters air it all out. With two teams winning the World Series in consecutive years by leveraging their starting pitchers as relievers when it made sense, maybe we’ll see a shift in how teams approach their roster building this offseason and in July, with more focus on starters who could also play up in relief on short rest, at least for a few appearances. The game is always adapting to itself, and this budding trend is no different.