Bernie: Tony La Russa’s Impact Lives On During The 2024 MLB Postseason.

Watching the frantic 2024 MLB postseason has me thinking about Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa and the way he altered the foundation of the competition with his hyper aggressive use of the bullpen. TLR didn’t invent the technique, but he absolutely enhanced it.

La Russa’s masterpiece was the 2011 postseason. Despite the infamous bullpen-phone screw up at Texas in World Series Game 5 that led to considerable chaos, confusion and the wrong relief pitcher (Lance Lynn) walking to the mound to enter the contest, La Russa gave the Cardinals a meaningful advantage that October.

Covering for a postseason starting rotation that had a very good/great starter (Chris Carpenter) a decent starter (Jaime Garcia) and a couple of question marks in Edwin Jackson and Kyle Lohse, La Russa reconstructed baseball’s traditional world order by front-loading his strong set of relievers into the pressure-packed environment. TLR wasn’t hung up on the standard formula of getting six or seven innings out of a starter, then summon a couple of relievers to finish it off.

During the 2011 postseason La Russa made a record 45 pitching changes in STL’s 18-game run through Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Texas. I can’t say this for sure, but I’m pretty sure La Russa won the 11th World Series in franchise history with his bold bullpen plan. Without TLR’s relentless maneuvering with his relievers, I don’t think the Cardinals survive the three postseason rounds. Oh, yeah … there was also that David Freese fellow.

First, some quick background …

In the three preceding postseasons from 2008 through 2010, postseason managers used their starting pitchers to cover 64.5 percent of the innings. The guys in the bullpen had time to sit around, catch a nap, tell funny stories, and not worry about warming up until relatively late in the game.

La Russa changed all of that. He got his bullpen crew busy in his final postseason as the Cards manager. It didn’t happen right away. In the five-game NLDS win over the Phillies, the St. Louis starting pitchers handled 69 percent of the innings.

Having two days off slotted into the days in a five-game showdown made it more doable. And Carpenter, Garcia and Jackson combined for a 3.24 ERA in their four starts. (Even though Carpenter lasted only three innings in the Game 1 loss to Philadelphia.)

La Russa went heavy with the bullpen in the remaining two rounds. If we combine the innings allotment in the NLCS and World Series, La Russa stayed with his starters for 53 percent of the innings over 13 games. The bullpen’s workload increased to 47 percent of the innings over the final two rounds.

That doesn’t tell the complete story. With the Cardinals knocking off the Brewers in six games to win the National League pennant, La Russa’s relievers chewed up 55 percent of the innings in that series.

Why did Tony go bonkers with the bullpen? The St. Louis starters were terrible against Milwaukee, getting hammered for seven home runs, 36 hits, seven walks and 19 earned runs in 24 and ⅓ innings. That’s a 7.03 ERA, my friends.

The bullpen, however, was on point. The relievers sculpted a 1.88 ERA in 28 and ⅔ innings over six games. La Russa didn’t fool around. In the six games Cardinals starting pitchers averaged 4 innings per outing. Carpenter had the deepest start (only 5 innings) in Game 3.

La Russa made 28 pitching changes in the six games. Marc Rzepcynski and Lance Lynn each made five appearances against the Brewers. Fernando Salas, Jason Motte and Octavio Dotel worked in four games. Arthur Rhodes pitched twice. Kyle McClellan was used one time.

In the four victories over the Brewers, the St. Louis relievers had a 1.35 ERA in 20 innings. In those four wins, the relievers recorded 58 outs compared to the 48 outs collected by the starters.

“Hey, Tony has a plan, with that revamped bullpen,” Cards utility man Skip Schumaker said after the Cardinals clinched the NLCS. “We’ve got a pretty damned good bullpen, with an extra guy on the roster] out there. And Tony keeps going to them. If he thinks a game is getting away from us, he’s not afraid to pull the trigger.

“He’s got guts, man,” Schumaker added. “He’s not afraid to do the uncommon thing. And that’s why he’s so successful — because he’s not afraid to do stuff like that.”

The innings ratio was more normal in the seven-game World Series, but we should attach an asterisk. La Russa could lean on his starters for a couple of reasons. Because of a rainout that pushed Game 6 back a day, the weather interruption made it possible for La Russa to start Carpenter in Game 7. Carpenter had thrown seven innings in Game 5. That made him off limits for Game 6.

Without the rainout, Carpenter would have had only two days of rest before the scheduled Game 7. Carp may have been used in that game but wouldn’t have started it. And any work for Carpenter in Game 7 would have been limited. But the rains came … and that made Carpenter available to start Game 7 on three days rest. He was up for the challenge, pitching five scoreless innings after Texas jumped him for two runs in the first.

Because of the washout, Carpenter was able to start three of the Cardinals’ seven games in the 2011 World Series. And he pitched 19 total innings in the three starts. And Garcia gave the Cardinals seven innings in Game 2. So in four of the seven games, the St. Louis bullpen wasn’t required to work as many innings.

Garcia lasted only three innings in that classic Game 6. La Russa turned to his bullpen to plow through the final eight innings of an 11-inning brawl. He used six relievers: Salas, Lynn, Dotel, Rzepczynski, Motte and (winning pitcher) Jake Westbrook. The bullpen wasn’t perfect that night; Lynn and Motte were ripped for five earned runs between them in 3 and ⅔ combined innings. But Game 6 was a survival test, and the Cardinals made it through with the heroic moments filed into St. Louis baseball history by Freese.

Baseball used to be different.

* In the 2006 postseason that ended with the first World Series conquest by the Cardinals since 1982, La Russa’s starting pitchers logged 70 percent of the innings over 16 games against the Padres, Mets and Tigers.

* When Whitey Herzog managed the Cardinals to the World Series championship in 1982, the team’s starting pitchers were entrusted with 76.5 percent of the innings in the 10-game postseason. This stat made me smile: the STL bullpen was called on for 20 and ⅔ innings during the ‘82 postseason, but future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter handled 58 percent of those innings. The other relievers in ‘82 – Jim Kaat, Doug Bair, Jeff Lahti, and Dave LaPoint – worked only 8⅔ innings collectively in 10 games. But LaPoint also made one start that postseason, helping out the top three starters John Stuper, Bob Forsch and Joaquin Andujar.

* When the 1967 Cardinals won the World Series in a tense, seven-game affair with the Red Sox, Redbirds manager manager Red Schoendienst deployed seven different relievers who combined for 13 appearances and 10 innings of work. Bob Gibson started three games, Dick Hughes started two, and Steve Carlton and Nellie Briles each made one start. Here’s another stat that made me smile: Gibson pitched 27 innings against the Red Sox – leaving only 34 innings of work, combined, for all other Cardinal pitchers. Gibson was on the mound for 44 percent of the innings in that ‘67 series. And 40 percent of the Boston hitters that came to the plate over seven games took their at-bats against one man. Gibson.

Yes indeed, baseball was different back then.

Participants are going bullpen-crazy during the 2024 postseason. Against the Padres on Wednesday night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts went with an all-reliever menu, bypassing a starting pitcher to place a must-win game into the custody of his bullpen. The result was an 8-0 win that got the Dodgers to the winner-take-all Game 5 Friday in Los Angeles. In the 8-0 shutout LA’s bullpen scattered seven hits and two walks while getting all 27 outs in the nine innings. Roberts utilized eight relief pitchers to smother the Padres.

With his bullpen getting rested during Thursday’s off day, Roberts may run it back again Friday night. And why not? In this NLDS, the abysmal Dodger starting pitchers 10.13 ERA in the first three games before Roberts went into the all-bullpen mode. The Los Angeles bullpen, one of the very best in the majors, has a 2.49 ERA so far in the series. And the only damage against the Roberts bullpen came against two low-leverage LA relievers in a 10-2 blowout loss in Game 2.

Of the 21 runs scored by the Padres in the first four games, 15 were punched in against LA starters Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler. So why gamble with dreadful starters when you have a fresh and firm bullpen ready to go for Game 5?

Through Wednesday’s action, postseason managers have used their bullpens to supply virtually the same amount of innings as their starting pitchers. That continues a trend. Managers used the bullpens for 48 percent of the innings in the 2023 postseason, 45 percent of the innings in the 2022 postseason, and a whopping 55.4 percent of the innings in the 2021 playoffs. And so on … it traces back to TLR.

If you hate watching these October parades featuring relievers, I guess you can blame La Russa. But if you blame him, you’re disregarding the most important point to this: the bullpen procession works when a manager has the proper personnel to make it go. And it’s a smart strategy when a manager is stuck with a mediocre rotation and can work around it by giving the baseball to a cast of superior relievers.

I give credit – not blame – to TLR.

And before you say it’s boring … well, OK … so I guess that means you were yawning and nodding off during the Cardinals’ 2011 postseason? Not me. The action was fast and furious. And fun. And it was always entertaining to watch La Russa doing La Russa. Even when he was hollering at me.

During the 2011 World Series, former Cardinals pitcher Darren Oliver, then back with the Rangers, expressed his admiration for La Russa’s bullpen scripting.

“He’s on a whole different level,” Oliver told the New York Times. “He thinks about stuff nobody else is thinking about. I played for him, I know how he is. He’s one of a kind.”

Thanks for reading …

Please pardon my typos … it’s been one of those days.

–Bernie

A 2023 inductee into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Bernie has provided informed opinions and perspective on St. Louis sports through his columns, radio shows and podcasts since 1985.

Please check out the new Bernie Miklasz Show channel on YouTube. And thank you for subscribing. Here’s the link: @TheBernieShow

Please follow Bernie on X @b_miklasz and Threads @miklaszb

Stats used in my baseball columns are sourced from FanGraphs, Baseball Reference, Statcast, StatHead, Baseball Savant, Baseball Prospectus, Brooks Baseball Net, and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise noted.