In each of the past two seasons, Adam Ottavino has been one of the best relievers in baseball — then flopped in the playoffs.
It happened in Colorado a year ago, when Ottavino allowed costly runs in two of his three outings in the NL wild-card game and NLDS, and this postseason, the right-hander gave up seven hits, four runs — three earned — and three walks in just 2 ¹/u2083 innings combined in the ALDS and ALCS before pitching a scoreless inning in the Yankees’ season-ending loss in Houston.
Ottavino hasn’t found the answer for his postseason struggles, but knows he needs to.