Starting Pitchers Are Getting More Leash In The MLB Playoffs And They Are Delivering

The lost art of letting starting pitchers go deep into games is slowly making a comeback.

For better or worse, there’s been a trend in the MLB in recent years of yanking starters when they are about to face an opposing lineup for the third time. It doesn’t matter if the guy is pitching like Blake Snell in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series. As soon as the lineup turns over for a third time, they’re gone.

Analytics will tell you the batting average goes up, and that relievers are your best option on the mound. But the downside is that these numbers don’t account for the times when a guy is completely locked in; they just tell you probabilities. For a long time, managers have trusted the numbers over their gut and let the numbers take responsibility if things go wrong.

However, this postseason, managers are letting starters have more leash.

Garret Crochet, Cam Schlittler, and Tarik Skubal each went seven-plus innings in their appearances in the Wild Card Round, giving up a combined two runs in those outings. Schlittler and Skubal each had multiple lengthy outings in the following series. Starters in the Dodgers-Phillies series regularly went six or more innings. Snell went eight in the NLCS and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a complete game the day after.

This is a sacrilegious move in today’s analytics-saturated game, but it's paying off. Managers are letting their elite arms wreak havoc on opposing lineups, which gives the bullpen rest and helps dispel the unwritten rule that you need to take a pitcher out the third time through the order.

Oh, and let's not forget last night’s display by "Mad" Max Scherzer. In the fifth inning, Blue Jays manager John Schneider tried to take him out. Instead, Scherzer barked like a rabid dog in his manager’s face to let him get to Randy Arozerana. 

Analytics would have Schneider tell Scherzer to pound sand, but the manager pushed the numbers aside, trusted his guy and let him face one last guy.

The result? A strikeout.

Freaking epic.

Of course, not everyone has a starting pitching rotation like the Dodgers, and sometimes you build or give up leads so big that you don’t need to ask for a ton from your starters (see the Blue Jays-Yankees ALDS matchup). But it's clear that managers are going back to the old ways and trusting their starters to get the job done.

And the starters are rewarding them for it.