Sports
In an era of short starts, the bullpen is running out in MLB’s League Championship Series
CLEVELAND — For a generation, he was as much a part of October as fun-size Snickers bars and pumpkin-spice lattes. Andy Pettitte made 44 starts in baseball’s postseason, logging so many innings that nobody else comes within 50. And every time he took the mound, Pettitte knew the expectation.
“I was going to probably throw 100 pitches, no matter what,” Pettitte said late Friday in a familiar setting: the New York Yankees’ clubhouse on the precipice of a pennant. “It’s just a different game now.”
So it was in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, when the Yankees and Cleveland Guardians somehow escaped without every pitching arm in a sling. Surgeons nationwide must have been transfixed by the Yankees’ 8-6 victory.
Fourteen pitchers took the mound at Progressive Field, down from 15 in Game 3. The attrition has led to late-inning thrill rides in a series that’s been much tighter, game to game, than its National League counterpart.
Both series, though, have something in common: neither has featured a game in which both starters lasted five innings. And almost every reliever seems spent.
“The game’s built on bullpens now,” said Pettitte, now a special advisor for the Yankees. “(Teams) piece it together, and that’s tough. Now, being around all year, you kind of see how the game’s so different from when I played. It’s just a new brand of baseball. I don’t know whether it’s good or bad, but teams are built to do it now. Relievers weren’t built to do it back when I pitched.”
In the 1995 postseason, Pettitte’s first, there were 31 starts of at least 100 pitches. In the 2012 postseason, his last, there were 29 such starts. So far this year we’ve had two, by the Philadelphia Phillies’ Zack Wheeler and the New York Mets’ Luis Severino.
In the 2009 postseason alone, Andy Pettitte racked up 30 2/3 innings pitched over five starts. (Photo: Jared Wickerham / Getty Images)
It would make more sense if the relievers were dominating. That’s not what we’ve seen this month, yet teams keep trying to bullpen their way to a title.
For Game 4 on Friday, the Yankees planned to give a night off to Luke Weaver, who had pitched in every postseason game and surrendered David Fry’s walk-off homer in Game 3. Yet even without their best reliever — and with his replacement, Tommy Kahnle, throwing all changeups to get the save, as Weaver warmed up — the Yankees expected minimal work from starter Luis Gil.
Gil was as fresh as he could be, having not pitched for nearly three weeks. A leading candidate for the AL Rookie of the Year Award, Gil was merely adequate in September, with a 4.00 ERA, but he did last at least five innings in all five outings.
So it was startling — even to Yankees manager Aaron Boone himself, it seemed — to hear this after the game:
“What was big was Luis getting us four innings,” Boone said, adding that he knew it sounded light. “Really I was keeping him at like, 75, 80 pitches. I think he ended up throwing 80 (actually, 79), probably even more than we really like.”
It’s all an educated guess, but it underscores every pitching move a manager makes from March to November: how long will each pitcher be effective, given how much he has rested? Now add the complications of the postseason, where the competition is better and the stakes are more intense, and this is what you get.
The starters aren’t trained to pitch deep in games, anyway, and now they’re at the end of a long season. And the relievers are not only taxed, but they’re more familiar to the hitters due to repeat appearances.
“Guys have been throwing a lot of innings and guys can be tired,” said Kahnle, who acknowledged he should probably throw a fastball or two next time. “But I would say adrenaline does kick in big-time in these games, so you don’t really notice until you come out.”
Making this third appearance of the ALCS, Tommy Kahnle threw 18 changeups to earn the save in Game 4. (Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
You notice it, though, in the lack of command. A tired pitcher can often still throw as hard as usual. But the ability to repeat mechanics suffers, and that’s what leads to mistakes in the strike zone.
“It’s the middle, end of October,” said Austin Hedges, the Guardians’ veteran catcher. “Everyone’s been training since the offseason to prepare for a six-month season. As much as your goal is to win the World Series, there’s only a handful of teams that play this long and it’s exhausting.
“You can see it in the past. There’s plenty of pitchers that have pitched a lot in the playoffs and then they come back the next year and they’re just not the same, just because of that whole extra month, and also the pressure of each moment is tough. So that’s very real.
“But also it’s something that they have to be able to respond to. I feel like their team’s experiencing the same thing. They’ve got a good bullpen, but they’re not necessarily pitching the way that I’m sure that they would like to, as well.”
The Guardians’ bullpen had a 2.57 ERA in the regular season, the best by any team since the 2013 Kansas City Royals. In the postseason, though, Cleveland’s relievers have been far more ordinary, with a 3.83 ERA. The Yankees’ weary (but less so) group has been better, at 2.97.
Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase, who gave up just five earned runs in the regular season, has now allowed eight in October. After blowing the save in Game 3 and losing Game 4, his ERA is 10.29. Manager Stephen Vogt said Clase’s problems were pitch location and a Yankees team that led the majors in walks and waits for mistakes.
“That is what the Yankees do really well,” Vogt said. “They take a really good approach against your pitchers, and then they get pitches over the middle. They don’t miss them, and they really capitalized.”
Whether through loud home runs or soft contact, the Yankees have made short work of Emmanuel Clase. (Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
He’s right about that: the Yankees have taken extraordinary at-bats this postseason, with Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton as dangerous as Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. While Judge and Stanton homered off Clase in Game 3, it was Anthony Rizzo, Anthony Volpe, Alex Verdugo and Torres who nicked him with singles and soft contact on Friday.
Cleveland has gotten 15 outs from a starter just once this postseason, when Matthew Boyd held the Yankees to one run over five innings in Game 3. Tanner Bibee, the nominal ace, lasted only 39 pitches on Tuesday, such a brief appearance that he’ll start on short rest in Game 5 on Saturday.
“The strength of our team has been our bullpen all year, so we’re gonna lean on that,” said Shane Bieber, the former Cy Young Award winner who needed Tommy John surgery after two starts this season. “I think you see most of these teams doing that as well, because it happens quick and runs are at a premium. Starters are definitely able to go deeper in games, but when it’s such high stakes, man, the leash is a little bit shorter.”
It’s a credit to the Guardians that they’ve made it this far without their best starter. Boyd was a shrewd signing — a veteran with a fresh arm after his own Tommy John rehab — but they simply do not trust any of their starters to pitch very long.
It’s a formula that worked in the regular season and got Cleveland past an even more bullpen-heavy team, the Detroit Tigers, in the division series. But now, with the top of the mountain in sight, the little engine is sputtering.
“I mean, everybody is tired,” Vogt said. “I think we’ve used them a lot. We’ve had to. It’s who we are.”
The Guardians have one more chance to win with this identity. It’s a tough way to live, and they’re not alone.
(Photo of starter Gavin Williams exiting the game: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
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Bodhana Sivanandan, a 10-year-old chess prodigy from London, made headlines over the summer after she became the youngest female chess player to defeat a grandmaster. This week, Sivanandan reached another important milestone in her young career.
The young talent, known as the “girl wonder,” defeated former women’s world champion and grandmaster Mariya Muzychuk in the first round of the European Chess Club Cup, hosted in Greece on Sunday.
Bodhana Sivanandan, 9, competes in the second round of the Delancey UK Chess Challenge Terafinal in Woodstock, Great Britain, Oct. 12, 2024. (REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett)
Experts called the stunning victory a “near-perfect game,” The Times reported.
Grandmaster David Howell took to social media to commend Sivanandan for her “incredible win.”
“It’s not every day a 10-year-old defeats a [grandmaster] (and former world champion) in such style,” his post on X read.
Sivanandan seemed quite pleased with her win, but told The Times she’s looking for more victories.
Bodhana Sivanandan, a 10-year-old chess prodigy, competes in the British Chess Championships at St. George’s Hall on Aug. 7, 2025, in Liverpool, England. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
CHESS PRODIGY, 10, MAKES HISTORY AFTER DEFEATING 60-YEAR-OLD GRANDMASTER
“I’m happy to win, but hopefully I do even better in the future games … This will inspire me to keep doing better and trying harder to win more games,” she said.
Sivanandan made history this summer when she defeated Grandmaster Peter Wells, 60, in the final round of the 2025 British Chess Championships in August. According to the International Chess Federation, Sivanandan set the record previously held by American Carissa Yip, who set the record in 2019 at 10 years, 11 months and 20 days old.
Bodhana Sivanandan, center, a 10-year-old chess prodigy, competes in the British Chess Championships at St. George’s Hall on Aug. 7, 2025, in Liverpool, England. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
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Sivanandan was 10 years, five months, and three days old when she defeated Wells.
She has made a name for herself since first picking up the game during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she was just 5 years old.
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With two weeks left in the regular season for high school football, it’s become clear there’s a large and growing list of candidates for coach of the year. They are considered based on exceeding expectations, winning championships or helping to engineer a program turnaround when no one saw it coming.
Let’s review the great coaching performances so far this season:
Los Alamitos football coach Ray Fenton stands with his players on Thursday during an Alpha League opener at SoFi Stadium.
(Craig Weston)
- Ray Fenton, Los Alamitos: The man looks so fit he could run around any stadium without breaking a sweat. Few expected the Griffins to be 8-0 at this point, let alone be in the running for a Southern Section Division 1 playoff berth. He’s molded a team of best friends into believing in themselves no matter the opponent. San Clemente and Mission Viejo are the only teams standing in the way of a 10-0 regular season.
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Terrance Whitehead, Crenshaw: When head coach Robert Garrett was placed on administrative leave before the season began, the Crenshaw grad and longtime assistant took over. Garrett helped train him, and Crenshaw is 7-1 going into a Coliseum League title decider against King/Drew on Friday. The Cougars have discipline, resiliency and are playing to make Garrett and his assistants proud.
Crenshaw interim coach Terrance Whitehead speaking with quarterback Danniel Flowers.
(Robert H. Helfman)
- Brad Vonnahme, Crespi: Who predicted the Celts would be 8-0 and headed to the Del Rey League championship in Vonnahme’s third season of a massive rebuilding job? He hasn’t brought in transfers, rather relying on players who start out as freshmen learning the game and move up. There’s a group of sophomores being developed who could be very good in the coming seasons.
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Jason Negro, St. John Bosco: The Braves have established themselves as the No. 1 team in California, if not the nation, while relying on an improving sophomore quarterback and four receivers headed to college success. He knows championships are won with the help of the offensive and defensive lines, and those are the areas to watch as the playoffs approach.
St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro has his team ranked No. 1 in the nation.
(Craig Weston)
- Jon Ellinghouse, Sierra Canyon: The Trailblazers are 8-0 and no one has come close to beating them. The season will be based on whether they can break through and disrupt the St. John Bosco-Mater Dei domination. Their defense is clearly the best in Southern California.
- Dylen Smith, Palisades: He lost his field, lost his weight room and nearly lost his team to the Palisades fire. And yet, the Dolphins have persevered and are 8-0 with players who stayed and a couple new ones who wanted to experience an adventure with no guarantee of success.
- Chad Johnson, Mission Viejo: With the Diablos (7-1) having wins over Santa Margarita, Folsom and San Diego Lincoln, Johnson challenged his team with a difficult nonleague schedule and they’ve met that challenge. He placed his trust in quarterback Luke Fahey, and don’t doubt how far this team can advance.
- Rick Clausen, Westlake: An assistant coach all his life, Clausen decided to accept the head coaching position even though his wife died of cancer. He’s somehow managed to balance parenting duties and coaching duties, helping a Westlake team go from 0-10 last season to 8-0 this season in his rookie year.
- Tony Henney, Dana Hills: Wherever Henney goes, he succeeds. He’s been head coach at Nordhoff, Trabuco Hills, St. Bonaventure and Westlake. He has Dana Hills at 8-0 going into a game on Friday against 8-0 Laguna Beach, whose own coach, John Shanahan, surrounded himself with an elite group of assistants, including former JSerra head coach Scott McKnight. The winner of the battle of the unbeatens might not be stopped the rest of the way.
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Kevin Hettig, Corona del Mar: With his team 8-0 and tough games ahead, Hettig has quietly and competently prepared the Sea Kings to stay focused and keep improving each week.
Corona del Mar head coach Kevin Hettig, quarterback Brady Annett, and NMUSD superintendent Dr. Wesley Smith.
(Don Leach/Staff Photographer)
- Jason Miller, Leuzinger: Who loses his only quarterback who can pass and still keeps the team winning? Miller and the Olympians (6-1) are on the verge of ending Inglewood’s reign as a league champion by using 5-foot-8 Journee Tonga as his versatile offensive weapon and replacement quarterback.
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Mike Moon, Oxnard Pacifica: Moon is trying to get his always underrated 8-0 team to run the table in the Marmonte League. He’s helped develop junior quarterback Taylor Lee while managing rising expectations and winning close games.
Mike Moon of Oxnard Pacifica has his team at 8-0.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
- Raymond Carter, Torrance: The former All-City running back at Crenshaw has his team at 8-0, beating local team after local team led by junior quarterback Gibson Turner, who has 20 touchdown passes.
- Mark Carson, Rio Hondo Prep: Year after year, Carson has Rio Hondo Prep ready to succeed. This year’s 8-0 start is no different. A challenge ahead will be playing in a tougher playoff division.
- Darryl Goree, Palm Springs: An 8-0 start has the Indians being the talk of town. Senior linebacker Koa Rapolla has been turned loose and is averaging 13 tackles a game.
- Rick Curtis, Crean Lutheran: Curtis figured out how to best use one of the best athletes in the Southland, quarterback/point guard Caden Jones, and it has led to an 8-0 record.
Sports
Drew Brees backs Alvin Kamara’s retirement threat over potential Saints trade: ‘That should be celebrated’
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With the NFL trade deadline getting closer by the day, all eyes are on teams like the New Orleans Saints to see if they’re willing to sell off their stars to acquire draft picks for a potential rebuild.
One of those stars is running back Alvin Kamara, but he made it clear what he would do if general manager Mickey Loomis were to trade him. Kamara said he and Loomis are on the same page, but in the unlikely event it does happen, he threatened to retire.
“If I was a GM, I guess I would go to the player and be like, ‘Hey, we’re trading you. Just to let you know.’ If Mickey comes down and says that, then I’ll go drink a piña colada somewhere,” Kamara told reporters recently.
Alvin Kamara and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints react during the first quarter against the Chicago Bears in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at Mercedes Benz Superdome on Jan. 10, 2021, in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
As someone who knows Kamara quite well, Saints legend Drew Brees loved hearing that answer from his old running back.
“Look, all of this is unfortunate and wouldn’t even be a topic if the Saints weren’t 1-6,” Brees told Fox News Digital, while discussing his flag football organization, Football ‘N’ America, partnering with Unrivaled Sports. “Immediately, when people think the season is ‘lost,’ or a high unlikelihood, all of a sudden you start dealing these pieces to get draft picks to build for the future. That term rebuilding, right?
ALVIN KAMARA THREATENS RETIREMENT IF SAINTS TRY TO TRADE HIM: ‘I’LL DRINK A PIÑA COLADA SOMEWHERE’
“I know Alvin obviously, but for those who don’t know Alvin, I think you should read into his comments as he loves being a part of the New Orleans Saints, and he loves the city of New Orleans and loves the people. He doesn’t want to go anywhere. So, when the topic is broached with him, ‘Hey, what would you think about…’ He doesn’t want to go anywhere else. ‘This is my team, I want to play here in front of these fans.’ I just think that’s a testament to his loyalty and that’s kind of rare nowadays, to be honest with you. That should be celebrated more than anything.”
Kamara isn’t the only attractive Saints star in the building. Wide receiver Chris Olave is another name swirling in trade speculation, while players like defensive end Cam Jordan and linebacker Demario Davis could be viewed as trade candidates as well.
Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints hands the ball off to Alvin Kamara of the New Orleans Saints in the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Oct. 4, 2020, in Detroit, Michigan. (Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
But Brees doesn’t like the thought of selling just because of what the record says. Having leaders like those in the locker room goes a long way.
“I think the reaction for everybody, especially when you’re not winning, that something must be really wrong and who do we blame it on?” Brees explained. “Everybody seems to want dysfunction – makes for a better story. I would almost argue there’s a heck of a lot more dysfunction I know on some winning teams right now than there is on teams like the Saints, who are 1-6.
“I think everybody loves the coach. I think the coach has really endeared himself to a lot of the team. They love playing for him despite the record, and I think we got guys who care about the organization, the city, the community. They love being a part of the team, they love being leaders on the team. They take real pride in it.”
Alvin Kamara and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints look on against the Los Angeles Rams during the fourth quarter in the NFC Championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Jan. 20, 2019, in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
Brees feels his former team is “close,” but they may still need to find their identity. The coach he mentions is new head coach Kellen Moore, who is a first-year head coach that New Orleans really likes.
No one expected the Saints to turn around quickly this season, but Brees and others feel the pieces are in place, especially those like Kamara who want to remain in place to get the Saints back to their playoff ways.
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