The Indians coaching staff asked the closer to do something he'd never attempted before on Thursday.
Once, we had a league in which a relief pitchers threw for more than one inning. Now, we have a league where some relief pitchers are only used against single batters of a certain handedness: LOOGYs. Is this an insidious trend? Are players simply softer than they used to be?
Not at all. What we expect from pitchers has changed a great deal since the beginning of baseball. In 2015, a cluster of pitchers tied for the league lead with 4 complete games.