I have long insisted that the future of rotations and bullpens is not the flawed “opener”/”follower” system, but rather the “multi-inning reliever,” and here the A’s are demonstrating in the real time how powerful this method can be.
The “opener” is an ill-advised fad made popular by the Rays, who only proved that if you assemble a bunch of really good relievers and a bunch of really good SPs, you can pitch them in any order and thrive. Who knew?
Other teams have discovered, the hard way, the drawbacks of using a top reliever in the 1st inning only to find they are in a 6-1 game and didn’t need to use him, opening with a middle reliever and wishing they had thrown better options in a tight game, dutifully yanking their “follower” because it was the third time through the order even though he was on a roll, and getting their SP out of routine in ways that did not bring out the best in him.