It’s no longer a secret that the Milwaukee Brewers are doing some creative things with their pitching staff. This year’s “run prevention unit” finished fifth in baseball in earned run average and was successful largely by using early hooks for the “initial out-getter,” deploying several multi-inning options out of the bullpen, and relying on one of the league’s top defensive units to turn balls in play into outs.
Craig Counsell was even more aggressive with this strategy in the postseason, leaning on guys like Brandon Woodruff and Gio Gonzalez more as “openers” than true starters (though Woodruff did have a 5.