A season like 2020 can be unfair to a relief pitcher. With their already reduced workload, one or two bad outings can have an outsize impact on the final season numbers, making us think they’re worse than they actually are. I’m not going to sit here and say Joe Borowski was necessarily good in 2007, but I think the league-leading 45 saves was more descriptive of his quality than the 5.07 ERA, if only marginally. Relievers are susceptible to ebbs and flows though, good luck and bad, and the smaller outcomes — whiffs, strikeouts, walks — often matter more than what we think of as traditional “success”.
Phil Maton was a victim of 2020’s shortened season
