Bullpens are more important than ever in Major League Baseball. Relievers set the record for most innings pitched in 2018, breaking the record set just one year prior. Relievers accounted for 40.1% of innings pitched in 2018. For the Braves, they accounted for 38.2% of innings pitched in 2018 (up 1.7% and 30 innings from 2017). Relievers become even more important in the postseason, as they accounted for 49.7% of innings pitched in the 2018 postseason (up from 46.5% in 2017).
The Ringer’s Michael Baumann recently summed up the evolution of the modern bullpen:
It’s not enough to just have one or even two relief aces whose primary purpose is to protect a lead late in the game; key bullpen roles and assignments are becoming more fluid and numerous, requiring as many as half a dozen hard-throwing relievers to fill them.